Planet of the Pokémon
by W. R. Winters
Summary: Humans have failed as a race after going nearly extinct after a serious epidemic they unintentionally created. The epidemic affected Pokémon in a way that caused them to evolve into what's known as the Gijinka. The few humans that survived are now their slaves. Now centuries later; it has become a part of life, but that doesn't stop me from running to avoid becoming a slave again.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 **(Keep in mind that this story is rated M for a reason)**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

 _If things were the way they used to be, I would be on a journey. Fighting the gyms and collecting badges while adding more members to my Pokémon team and one day challenge a league in hopes of one day becoming a Pokémon master…Sadly things aren't like that anymore, they haven't been like that for centuries._

 _Allow me to start from the beginning of the end of the human race._

* * *

 _Pokémon battling was always one of the most important things. Everyone wanted to be the best, but the problem with being the best was that you needed to train your Pokémon and took a lot of work and patience depending on what kind of Pokémon you had on your team, sometimes trainers just lack both when it comes to training and to be frankly honest battling was just not as much of a challenge as it used to be. Everyone was using the same Pokémon and strategies were far more predictable. Someone sought to change that through the use of something most trainers knew about; the Pokérus virus._

 _Well it's not a virus per say, considering how useful it was. For those of you that don't know what it is, Pokérus is a condition some Pokémon have that allows them to grow stronger quicker than the average Pokémon and also makes them a little more powerful making Pokémon that have this infection easier to train, but it's such a rare condition trainers rarely have a Pokémon infected with it, but like I said. Someone sought to change it._

 _It was a scientist who had a lab based in Unova that sought to bring a new challenge to the scene. That scientist, along with a few of his co-workers searched long and hard until they found a Pokémon who was infected with this virus, a female Electabuzz they named Telsa._

 _They examined the way she behaved and the way she fought to find out how she behaved with the infection compared to others of her species that didn't have the infection, and the differences they found were mind blowing. Telsa showed great power, but they felt that it shouldn't stop there. They took a sample of her blood in order to find the source of the Pokérus virus._

* * *

 _When they found and extracted it from Telsa's blood; they took its genetic code and altered it creating the New Pokérus. Not the most original name, but I digress. They recreated the infection so that not only would it increase their power, but also their intelligence as well._

* * *

 _Unfortunately they hit a small roadblock; the testing the scientists did on Telsa resulted in her unexpected death. None of them saw it coming, she died almost peacefully in her sleep, but not all hope was lost. When they discovered her dead body the morning after she died, they found her clutching something close to her. They weren't sure how it got there, but she was holding an egg._

* * *

 _After burying Telsa they incubated the egg until it hatched into an Elekid they named Surge. They soon discovered that he did not have the Pokérus virus, but they saw this as an opportunity to study a regular Pokémon from birth if they were exposed to the New Pokerus. They made the virus into an inhalant; something Surge would be able to breathe and not have to go through any painful infections._

 _As Surge grew up they put him through several simple tests to see if the New Pokérus, as an Elekid they gave him the average power tests they used on his mother, but after he evolved into an Electabuzz they began to introduce him to more intellectual tests. Surge's intelligence proved to be rather advanced, but whenever the scientists would turn their back. They didn't notice Surge watching them intently, making observations of his own._

 _It wasn't before long before Surge took matters into his own hands._

* * *

The scientists were watching a video of Surge against one of their fellow scientists in a game of chess – and surprisingly Surge was winning – when the image began to flicker. In fact everything around them seemed to be going haywire. Everything around seemed to go berserk before everything in the lab blacked out.

"What's going on?" it was completely dark and almost silent, save for the small sound of static electricity.

Following the sound the group of scientists walked down the halls to the main research room, which had a large observatory window to the room Surge was kept in. They saw that Surge in the center of the room. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was concentrating to the point that he could've been meditating. Electricity was flowing from all outlets in the room and into Surge giving him an aura of static electricity. Surge was absorbing the power in the building, but what was he doing with it?

The scientists weren't too eager to find out. They opened the door and walked inside, but when they approached him, Surge's eyes shot open and a blinding light filled the room along with a small literal shockwave that sent them reeling back several steps and temporarily blinding the scientists. When their vision returned they looked to where Surge should've been and were astonished. Standing in Surge's place was an Electivire; Surge had evolved without the use of an Electirizer.

* * *

Surge seemed to be as surprised and the scientists, as he seemed to be examining his new body. He did simple things like wiggle his fingers, feel the new muscles in his arms, flex and move around his new cord-like tails and other things like that. The scientists walked up to him, "Surge?" one of them asked with a small amount of uncertainly.

Surge looked up at the mention of his name, and he seemed to recognize the men and women in front of him, but then as fast as lighting he grabbed each one of them around the neck and hoisted them up into the air; one in each hand and two being chocked by his tails.

"Surge…w-what are you doing?" one of them asked struggling past the iron grip on their neck, "Put us down right now!"

Surge's eyes narrowed and a blue spark of lightning generated between the antennae on his head and he opened his mouth and a gravely sound began to resound in his throat, as if he was trying to say something, "Grrrrr-" it was a growl they couldn't understand, but then it formed into something they understood completely, "-rrrrnooo! No!" he said with a snarl in his tone. They were astonished, a Pokémon speaking English wasn't unheard of, but to actually see it was something incredible. But it was short lived as Surge released the electricity stored in his body into the scientists he was choking. Their agonizing screams echoed through the building, but they soon faded as the scientists died.

Once they were silent Surge dropped them, stepped over their bodies and out of his chamber and into the main research room. Looking around the room Surge could see everything perfectly even with it being dark. His gaze stopped on a computer console and he walked towards it. He stopped in front of it and one of his cord-like tails extended until it plugged into one of the power outlets in the wall. After a surge of electricity was sent through it caused the power to come back on and gave life to the technology in the room.

Surge looked at the computer screen then down at the keyboard before beginning to type. He had watched those scientists use it his entire life, he made a mental note of what he saw and memorized it. He found files and looked at them, a great deal of them telling about what they were working on in the lab. Some of those files had videos of various Pokémon battles and watching them almost sickened Surge.

"No," He grunted the anger quite clear in his voice, "No!" he said louder as he punched his fist clean through the computer screen and breaking the computer. He pulled his fist out, grabbed the console and ripped it out of the wall and held it above his head. "NO!" he shouted before throwing it and having it smash into a filing cabinet. Surge went over to the wreckage he had caused and one of the files inside the cabinet caught his attention. He took the file and read it; it was about the New Pokérus virus.

He had heard the scientists mention it a few times, but they never explained what it actually was. He read through the files and a plan began to hatch in him mind. He looked around the lab until he found the canisters they kept the New Pokérus. Then he got to work.

* * *

 _For weeks Surge was hard at work, using the machinery in the lab he made a device that would launch the New Pokérus into the atmosphere and have it spread all across Pokéarth. Allowing all Pokémon to breathe it and become advanced like he was. Once the device was complete he went to the top of the tallest building he could find and set up the device there._

 _Once it was ready he loaded up the New Pokérus into it and activated it. The New Pokérus spread rather quickly throughout the world and soon Pokémon and humans was breathing it in, and that was when everything went downhill for the human race._

 _The Pokémon infected by the New Pokérus began to question why they continued to take orders from their human trainers, they had more power not them, they began to release themselves from their pokeballs and rebel from their trainers, Pokémon in the PC were released by their Pokémon comrades and soon they were breathing in the New Pokérus and getting the same effects._

 _But what ended the human race was that while the New Pokérus gave Pokémon power and made them smarter, it was very deadly to humans. Humans all over the world died in a matter of days, it was one of the greatest epidemics in history. There were only a handful of humans that had survived the epidemic and they had to go into hiding due to fear of the Pokémon outbreak. Surge was seen as a hero and a bit of a liberator, to the point that he was considered royalty among them. He dismissed the title, but it never went away so he did his best to embrace it and he began to rule over them._

* * *

 _Years and years went on before they knew it; it had been centuries since the New Pokérus Epidemic and several things had changed. Surge's reign had ended, but his bloodline would be seen as rulers so his heir inherited the throne._

 _Pokémon had advanced so far that they had new forms. In fact, Pokémon weren't even called Pokémon anymore, they were now referred to as the Gijinka; a human-Pokémon hybrid. Surprisingly not all Pokémon had changed, those Pokémon were more like livestock such as Mareep, Miltank and other Pokémon like that. They were used for their natural resources such as food, milk and wool._

 _The humans that remained had become slaves to the Gijinka, most became servants and maids. The more tougher and/or stronger ones were put into the Games for the use of entertainment. While it was rare, some humans were forced to become prostitutes._

 _It's been going on so long that it's considered a part of everyday life; most have chosen to forget the times where humans used to be the alpha species and just accept their pathetic lives. The Gijinka are powerful beings that they had no power against them, so what could they do?_

* * *

Well…we can't really do anything, but that doesn't stop someone like me from running. The slave life doesn't all that appeal to me and I don't have any plans on joining it.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **Hopefully I've caught for attention with this story, it's one I do believe has potential, and I would like all of you to be a part of it as well. Like the summary said this is a SYOC fanfic, so I'll give you guys the submission form, but first we need to go over some rules.**

* * *

 **#1. It must be sent through PM, if I have any questions about your character I want to be able to contact you so please send it through a PM.**

 **#2. The subject of your PM must be like this 'Planet of the Pokémons SYOC: (Character Name) (Age) (Gender)'**

 **#3. Try to make them realistic, no Gary Stus and Mary Sues and remember this could be considered a post-apocalypse for the humans so think that over when you're creating them.**

 **#4. I have the right to decline your character if he/she does not fit in with the story, but you can re-submit that character after making some changes to them and I'll see if I can reconsider. That does not mean you can submit more than one character, I want everyone to have a change at submitting an OC for this story.**

 **#5. Leave a review on my story before you submit a character, I want to know what you guys think of the story itself before you submit a character. Your review won't affect whether or not your OC gets in, I just want you guys' opinion.**

 **#6. Have fun with creating your character, but remember to go into detail.**

 **Okay to prove that you read the rules, at the** **TOP AND BOTTOM** **of your PM write the phrase, "Omega 13-666". If you don't have that then I will immediately reject your OC.**

* * *

 **Okay with that out of the way here is the form. It will also be on my profile so you can copy and paste it easier. Also be sure to remove the parenthesis. It will allow you to type more on your characters profile.**

* * *

 **Name:**

 **Age: (I would prefer to keep them within the range between 12-18)**

 **Gender:**

 **Physical Appearance: (Minimum of 5 sentences. Include height, build, eye color, hair color, hair length, skin tone etc. Remember this is a time where humans are treated as slaves so try not to make them look flawless)**

 **Personality: (Minimum of 6 sentences, if you want your character brought to their full potential then I need to know everything I can about their character. Also humans are treated like slaves so remember that when creating their character)**

 **Fears:**

 **Habits/Hobbies: (What do they tend to do when left alone?)**

 **Skills: (What makes them valuable as a slave?)**

 **Backstory: (Minimum of 4 sentences, were they always a slave? If not what age were they made into one? What about their past made them who they are today?)**

 **Opinion of the Gijinka:**

 **Brand Location: (All slaves are given brands)**

 **Romance: (There's no guarantee that they'll be given a romance, but it would be nice to know if they're open for one and the kind of person they would be interested in)**

 **Other/Anything I Missed:**

* * *

 **Okay that should cover it, okay guys you have the form so I encourage you to send in your OCs. I will no longer accept them once chapter two is posted, because that's when I will introduce them. Now I'm sure you know what to do so I'll leave you to it.**

 **This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Running**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

It was an early morning in the Region of Hoenn, the sun was about to rise so things were slightly warmer, but the dampened air still made it rather chilly. The area was peaceful considering the only ones that would be getting up soon are the yard work slaves owned be the Gijinka that owned plantations. That was what Hoenn was known for now; the warmer climates and year round growing season made Hoenn the center of agriculture. The region was ruled by Lord Vasilis; a Sceptile Gijinka.

While the descendants of Surge ruled Pokéarth as a whole, they couldn't keep an eye on everything. Which is why while the High King would reside in a Castle Spear Pillar – a glorious and magnificent castle on top of Mt. Coronet created by restoring the Ruins of Spear Pillar – each of the other regions had a Lord or Lady governing the activities of the region and regularly reporting to the High King during a Royal Council that happened each year.

* * *

The Miltank and Tauros were grazing in the field, unaware of the shadow climbing over the fence of their quarry and towards them. They walked slowly and with great caution, even at the slightest sound they would freeze for at least a minute before continuing.

The Miltank closest to the trespasser was the first to notice them, normally it would be cause for alarm, but she didn't make a sound as the trespasser was merely a human boy. There was nothing threatening about him, so really there wasn't any reason to be alarmed. Besides, unlike their Tauros counterparts they rarely got wilily anyway.

The human was relieved after the Miltank seemed to ignore him, it made his task that much easier. He approached the Miltank and grabbed something that was handing from a strap on his shoulder. It was a canteen; the human unstopped the canteen and got close enough to the Miltank that he could touch it. He held the canteen close to the Miltank's udder and grabbed one of the teats and began to squeeze the fresh Moomoo milk out of the Miltank and into his canteen.

The Miltank was relieved at this gesture, she hadn't been milked yet today and she was glad to get some of it out. The human continued to milk the Miltank until his canteen was full. The he put the lid back on he nodded his thanks to the Miltank, for the milk would give him an energy boost if he needed one. Slinging the canteen over his shoulder he snuck out of the field just as the he heard the wake-up call for the first slaves to get ready to begin the day's labor.

* * *

After a few hours of trekking the sun was high enough in the sky that most – including the Gijinka – would be awake and at work. The human that had grabbed the milk was now in the village closest to the plantation he just came from. It was a seaside town known for trading due to the fact that several ships docked here in order to sell and transport cargo.

The human boy had his eye set on a current shop in the town, it was a bakery and there was a large window that allowed him to see the interior of the shop. There was a woman inside with a very large build; she was wearing a brown dress with some sort of yellow apron around her front. The woman's skin was slightly dark and leathery, is she had any hair it was tied back and underneath a bonnet (or perhaps a bandanna?) on her head. Sticking out of the bottom of the skirt of her dress was the tip of what could possibly be a long and powerful tail. When she turned around the boy could see that in the pouch of the apron was a small baby girl soundly sleeping inside it; she was a Kangaskhan Gijinka.

She was next to a large oven and seemed to be waiting for something, after a few minutes of waiting she took the baby out of the pouch like apron and set her on down before going to the oven and using some gloves to pull out a large metal tray covered in golden brown bread rolls. The Gijinka looked at them with a proud expression; clearly this was one of her better batches. She set the tray on a cooling rack, which was really just the bottom of the large window so that the outside air would cool it quicker.

The human boy watched closely from the shadows and waited until the baker walked away from the window, then he slowly crept forward trying to keep as close to the shadows as he could. Unfortunately there weren't and shadows by the window, it was in full view of the street and any Gijinka that would walk be could perfectly see it. the boy knew he would have to act quickly.

The boy reached for a rope tied around his waist and pulled out a sack that was folded up and tucked underneath the rope, after unfolding it he beat it a few times to release any dust or dirt that was on it. Then he got out of the shadows and started to grab bread rolls off the tray and into the sack. The rolls were hot as they had come fresh out of the oven, but he put them into the sack quick enough that it couldn't really affect him.

* * *

After he put the tenth roll into the bag he heard a voice that made his blood run cold, "What do you think you're doing?!" the boy turned his head to see a Hitmonchan Gijinka – he could tell from the Gijinka's large hands that were covered by large red boxing gloves – glaring at him. From the way the Gijinka was dressed, the boy knew the Gijinka in front of him was a guard.

"Oh shit," the boy muttered before turning and bolting down the streets and alleyways behind him in order to get away.

"Stop, thief," the Gijinka commanded as he too chased after the human.

The boy had gotten a large head start, but he knew that the Gijinka were faster than humans were over longer distances, so he would have to find a place to hide. Behind him he heard the Gijinka chasing him calling out to his fellow guards. Avoiding one Gijinka was bad enough, now he had to avoid an entire group of trained guards. He ran down alleyways, ducking and weaving past obstacles, taking random turns not really sure where he was going. On bad turn caused him to run into a dead end, breathing heavily he grabbed the canteen slung across his should and took a long drink from it, the milk was sweet and still a little cool from being in the canteen in the early morning air.

He felt his energy return back to him as he removed the canteen from his lips and wiped the milk that was dripping from his chin with the other hand. He put the lid back on the canteen and he got a feeling that he should get out of here. He turned around to go back. Good thing he did, because he then came face to face with a young Machop Gijinka guard that was trying to sneak up on him from behind.

Losing the element of surprise the Gijinka tried to leap at him, acting out of reflex the boy swung the canteen and the heavy liquid that it was filled with put a lot of weight behind it as it slammed the Gijinka across the face and redirected the Gijinka's course and stunning him. The boy didn't give himself time to pat himself on the back, he knew that he had only dazed him and he had to get moving. He looked around and saw a ladder leading up to the top of the building.

* * *

"There he goes! Up there on the roof tops!" One of the guards said pointing on top of the buildings where sure enough the human was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, he wasn't being very coordinated and there were times where he stumbled on his landings, but he was making his getaway.

One of the Gijinka called out to the other guards, "Follow me, well cut him off at the docks." They ran down the road toward the docks, the same place the boy was running to.

* * *

Jumping from roof to roof was painful, and the wrappings on the boy's feet the he used as shoes did little to help. Every time he took a bounding leap and landed a sharp spike of pain would shoot up his legs. When he reached the dock he had to stop before he flung himself off the rooftop. He looked around for a way to get down, there was a cart filled with hay not too far away, maybe it would be enough to break his fall.

Getting a running start, the boy threw himself off the edge of the roof and landed heavily on the hay. He didn't break anything, but the impact still made a lot of the air leave his lungs. "Find that human, he's around here somewhere!" shaking the hay off of himself he got out of the cart and ran for the docks.

* * *

The docks were bursting with Gijinka and several of them were loading cargo onto one of the many ships that were docked there, he knew if he didn't find a place to hide before those guards showed up he was doomed. He worked his way around the grown without anyone getting too suspicious. He made his way to the cargo that was being loaded onto the ship.

* * *

"Have you seen a human boy run through here?" the guards questioned the Gijinka on the docks. Not many of them were being too helpful, one Gijinka however proved to be of some assistance.

"I think I may have saw a human over there." She said pointing to the crates and barrels at the loading dock. The guards nodded and walked towards them.

They examined the crates and barrels to see if any of them looked different or stood out. The Hitmonchan that had first spotted the boy stopped when he saw a crate that looked like it had been opened, the lid was a little askew. Approaching the crate he grabbed the edges of the crates lid and pulled it off quickly. There was nothing, but a bunch of silks, cloths and other fabrics. His eyes narrowed at the sight, but he wasn't fully convince that was all that was in there. He put a hand into the crate.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing with my merchandise?" a voice called out causing the Hitmonchan to withdraw his hand, he turned his head to see the captain of the ship. The Hitmonchan concluded from the orange hair, sea fur coat and the twin tails; he was a Floatzel Gijinka. "Boys pick up the pace with these crates." He commanded to the other Gijinka on his crew.

"This is none of your concern, this is guard business." The Hitmonchan said with a hard look in his eye, the Floatzel only return it.

"You mess with my cargo, you _make_ it my business." He said as one of his crew members picked up the crate the Hitmonchan was examining and carried it onto the ship and out of sight.

The Hitmonchan scowled, "Fine. Come one men, let's search further down." He said leading his guard members away from the cargo.

"Hmph, good riddance." The Floatzel muttered as he boarded his ship as the last cargo was getting carried onboard. The Gijinka put down the crates and barrels amongst the rest of the cargo and went above deck to bring more below deck, there were a few more pieces put down and once the task was done they all left the cargo bay at it was silent.

* * *

About an hour or so later, one of the crates – the one the Hitmonchan was examining – shifted somewhat and the human boy sat up, some of the silk clinging onto him. Pulling off the pieces of cloth he climbed out of the crate and grabbed his canteen and his sack.

His body ached from being in the cramped space in the crate for so long so he had to stretch a little to loosen up his limbs, then he felt the ship lurch underneath him. The ship must've been in the middle of the ocean.

"Great," he said in a sarcastic manner, "I got away from those guards only to get onto a ship crewed by Gijinka." He muttered.

"What was that?" a voice from above asked.

"I don't know, go below deck and check it out." A different voice said.

"Shit," the human swore and he jumped over the boxes and hid behind some of them. No way was he hiding in that crate again.

* * *

A Houndoom Gijinka came below deck less than a minute later, the first thing he noticed was the open crate and the scattered clothes, "Looks like we've got a stowaway on board." He said, he was about to turn around and head above deck to tell the captain, but then his nose caught whiff of something.

* * *

The human heard the sniffs and mentally punched himself, he may not be able to _see_ him, but that didn't mean he couldn't _smell_ him. He had hoped he would just ignore it and move on. Those hopes were dashed when a strong hand grabbed the back of his neck and hoisted him from behind the crate. And before he knew it he was staring into the red eyes of the Gijinka.

He gave the human a wolfish grin, "Look at what we've got here." he said, "Let's see how the captain feels about human stowaways."

* * *

The Floatzel Gijinka looked down at the human on his knees in front of him. His skin was dirty and covered with scars all over his exposed skin, how he got them he had no idea, but one thing was for sure; he was a fighter. His midnight black hair was dirty, shaggy, slightly long with it reaching close to the bottom of his neck, and very uneven as if he cut it with a knife. He was wearing clothes that were fashioned from the rough material used to make sacks. What stood out of place was that he was wearing a white bandanna – well white would have been its original color considering it was stained with several different colors like brown, red and black – that was tied around his forehead. He was looking down and refused to make eye contact with the Gijinka.

"Look up boy, show a smidgeon of respect." The Floatzel said, with great hesitation the boy slowly raise his head and looked the Floatzel dead in the eye giving his a clear view of his face. Had the Floatzel not had him held down by his crew members, he possible would've been slightly afraid of him.

His face wasn't marked with a single scar and his feature such as cheekbones and jawline would perhaps make him a little attractive if not for the grime on his face. His thin lips were set in a grim expression. The bandanna around his head had pinned his side swept bangs in a way that covered his right eye. The eye that wasn't covered had an intense red iris that seemed to give the impression that this human was capable of anything.

"What should we do with him, throw him to the Sharpedo?" One of his crew members said with a smirk.

The captain examined the humans face; the idea of being thrown overboard didn't seem to faze him at all. "No, I have a better idea." He said, "Lock this human up in the brig, when we arrive in Sinnoh we'll sell him as a slave." The word 'slave' made his eyes (or eye) narrow. "A good strong young face like him should fetch us a pretty Poké." He said. Poké was the world's currency, and ship traders, well pirates would be a better word will take any opportunity they can to make a nice profit. "Take the human away." He said waving a dismissing hand. The human growled and fought against the Gijinka holding him and he got to his feet and was able to kick the sea captain in the center of his chest.

The captain reeled back several feet and was caught by his shipmates, the Floatzel glared at the human and the human returned it, "My name…is Khan." He said in an angry tone. The Floatzel hit the side of his face with the back of his hand. Khan looked back at the Gijinka. The corner of his lip was split and was beginning to bleed. His bandanna was askew and his bangs were pushed more to the side and his right eye was now in full view. Unlike his left, his right eye had a startling and intimidating yellow iris.

The sea captain snorted, "Tell that to someone who gives a damn you little Muk-er. Be sure to lock him up tight, now get him out of my sight." He growled and the crew members holding the human – now known as Khan – down dragged him below deck.

The Gijinka turned around and looked at the sea in front of him, he was going to be more than happy to hand over that human to the slave traders. For the right price of course.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **Alright that's a wrap, this is it for chapter one. So you've now met our main character. Tell me your opinion about him when you submit a review to this story.**

 **This is your last chance to send in an OC for this story. Form is in the previous chapter and on my profile. I've gotten some amazing characters, but I would like some more female characters. Act quickly though, submissions close with the next chapter.**

 **Until next time, this is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Slave Trade**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

The brig actually wasn't that bad, except for that Khan could feel every lurch when they hit even the smallest waves. He was the only prisoner on board in the cell with a framework of metal bars so he had enough room to be comfortable. Khan was currently sitting down with has back laid against the side of the boat with his bandanna pulled over his eyes. The side of his face was bruised and slightly swollen with a trail of dried blood leading from his lip to his chin. Occasionally it would pulse a small wave of pain through his face, but could keep his mind off it by thinking about what was coming.

* * *

…

* * *

How long had he been on this boat; weeks, a month? He wasn't sure. His hair had grown an about two inches so he suspected a month. And with the heightened ship activity he'd been overhearing, Khan predicted that it would be a few hours before they would dock in Sinnoh and when that happened; he would be sold to the slave traders, then he would be bought by any Gijinka that could afford the price they put on him. Unless of course he became one of the auction slaves, but that was unlikely. He was going to Sinnoh, not Kanto or Hoenn.

"Meal time human." One of the Gijinka crew members said as he put down a tray and pushed it through the meal slot with his foot. Khan used one hand to lift the bandanna to his forehead to see what was on the tray. It was a decent meal with a slice of bread, salted Tepig meat, some pickles and a small wooden cup filled with water.

Khan knew that they were feeding him this well because he would sell for much more if he was in good physical health when they sold him. For that reason he almost didn't want to eat, in fact he usually waited a while after the food was brought to him before finally giving in. But by this point he had stopped trying to avoid eat due his growling stomach. He wrapped the salted Tepig meat around the slice of bread with some pickles on top and gobbled it up. Getting crumbs, a slight amount of juices and other bits of food all over his mouth.

"I hope you haven't gotten used to meals like that. It's the final one before we reach our destination, so I suggest you savor it while it lasts," the Gijinka sneered, "You won't be getting nearly that much where you're going." He said before walking away. Khan only briefly looked in the Gijinka's direction before he proceeded to finish the meal.

* * *

Khan wasn't sure how long it had been, but eventually the captain of the ship, along with two of the more stronger members of his crew came up to the cell, "Time to go." The captain said. The two Gijinka behind him opened the cell door and grabbed Khan's arms and easily lifted him up. When Khan was on his feet the Floatzel put some metal cuffs on his hands. "I don't want you fighting back, with the trouble you've caused I better get a good amount off of you." Khan's eyes narrowed and he spat into his eye.

Leaping back and snarling the captain wiped the saliva out of his eye, but something got into it that he had to keep it closed and he cursed loudly when he felt his eyes sting with pain. Khan almost smirked, thinking about the small stray piece of metal he had concealed inside his spit. The captain good eye stared into Khan's uncovered eye. They held the staring contest silently daring the other to make a move, after a few minutes the captain huffed and turned away and started to march with the Gijinka holding Khan moving into place behind him.

* * *

The market was located pretty close to what used to be Hearthrome City, of course you could never tell. All the buildings – as well as most human civilizations – had either been in ruins, or refashioned to fit needs that would make of better use to the Gijinka. Such as the Contest Hall for example, it had been torn down and rebuilt into a large stadium called the Pokéseum, where the Games and other related event would take place.

The market itself was bustling with Gijinka. There were several stalls, stands and shops that were aligned into rows. There weren't any human slaves allowed in the market, except the ones that were being sold or had just been bought. Currently walking – or rather stomping – through the market was one wanted to sell the female slave he was pulling behind him on a leash.

The Gijinka was very tall and lanky and had tan – in fact somewhat orange tinted – skin. His clothes were brightly colored and slight baggy –especially his pants which looked close to falling down any second – which would indicate that he was one that preferred the luxurious and perhaps more sexual ways of life. There was nothing special about his head, except for the large crimson Mohawk coming out of his head. He was a Scrafty, well to be more specific he was Biff, a Scrafty Gijinka that owned a very popular lounge and strip club in Sinnoh where Gijinka could go to have a pleasurable time with the strippers and/or prostitutes(most of them slaves) there, but judging from the look on Biff's face. He was not happy with the slave he was pulling.

* * *

The slave market was divided into three sections; where the slaves were kept, where they were bought and where humans were sold. Where the slaves were kept was the largest sections and was filled with cages of all sizes made from flat metal bars, some of them rusty in some places. The larger ones holding up to twenty slaves with the smallest holding three at the most.

The selling section was only a third of the size as the holding area, only about fifteen slaves would be sold at a time, and they would stay there until they were bought – which wasn't as bad of a thing for the slaves considering the conditions there were a lot better than the holding area so they could be easier to sell.

* * *

Biff entered the section where humans were sold, it was a pretty small place with the only furniture in the room being a large and thick desk as well as a few chairs. Sitting behind the desk was a Gijinka counting Poké by putting them into stack before putting a couple of the stacks into the bags while smoking a cigar.

The Gijinka was of the Infernape family, he was a little shorter than average, but his thin athletic build showed he could be more than effective in a fight. He had thick white sideburns and a bald spot on the top of his head surrounded by white hair. Of course you couldn't see the bald spot considering the top of his scalp was covered by a flame that rose almost a foot into the air making him seem taller than he really was. His clothes were mainly white with elements of gold and orange to them.

Biff cleared his throat and the Slave Broker looked up, "Well well well, didn't expect to see you 'ere for a long time Biff." he said in a thick accent as he took a draft from his cigar, "How's that lil' lounge of yours?" he asked smoke leaving his mouth.

"It's doing rather well," Biff yanked on the lease he was holding and forced the slave forward, "I'm here to sell this whore back to you Blaze, she ain't attracting Gijinkas and those who she does attract don't stick around very long. She's bad for my business." He said with a slight growl to his tone.

Blaze nodded and put his cigar in his mouth, "A'ight let's see 'er brand." Biff didn't ask any questions, it was standard procedure, he turned the slave around and lifted the grey – though it may have originally been white – singlet to show the brand scar that was designed to look like a pokéball burn into the bottom right corner of her back. Underneath the brand was the number _130367_ , her slave serial number.

Blaze looked at the brand and memorized the number, after he did he had Biff turn her back around. He then went to the large stack of papers on his desk and began to flip through them. He stopped when he found the number. When he saw the name listed under it he chuckled, "Whore is right, she comes from a family of 'em." He said, "Faye Brighton, been a while since you've been in the markets hasn't it?"

The slave, or Faye, didn't speak. She kept a straight face as the Gijinka looked her over, "Not going to speak eh?" he asked while blowing some of the smoke from his cigar directly into her face, Faye coughed slightly and the smoke made her eyes slightly tear up, "Well, that makes it easier for me." he said wrapping a measuring tape off his desks, "Now let me just make some measurements, then we can decide of a price." He said and Biff nodded clearly wanted to get this over with.

But before the Slave Broker could begin a group of three Gijinka burst, one in the lead and the two behind him carrying a slave, "Blaze!" the leader shouted, it was the Floatzel Pirate Captain, but he looked different due to the eye patch that was now covering one of his eyes.

Blaze looked at the captain with a slight smirk, "Captain Turbo Twintails, what brings you here? Shouldn't you be out there sinking ships and robbing their goods?" he said, no one saw it, but Faye rolled her eyes at his comment.

Turbo growled and stepped to the side so that the Gijinka behind him could pull the slave forward, "I'm here to sell this son of a bitch, what do you think?" he snarled out, clearly he was in a bad mood.

Blaze raised an eyebrow, "Well you're goin' to have to be a little patient, I'm in the middle of a sell right now." He said. Turbo grunted in annoyance and he went to lean his back again the wall muttering several profanities directed at Blaze, the two Gijinka holding the slave followed him. Blaze began to put his measuring tape to good use.

While he did so Khan took the time to observe the female slave Blaze was measuring. The girl looked around his age and had a pretty average height. She looked a little thin, but then again most slaves were on the more thin side, and her arms and legs seemed a bit long, but Khan noticed that there were scars on her arms and legs. The sight made his blood boil slightly. Her skin was fair, which probably meant she wasn't a yard slave. She had blonde hair that extended past her waist and it was messy unsurprisingly. When Blaze turned Faye's head to the side Khan got a better look at her face. She had pale lips and a sharp nose. Her slightly large black eyes locked with Khan's for a brief second before Blaze forced her to turn her head. Khan had to admit, she was a fairly pretty girl.

Blaze finished up his measurements my measuring the most important factors with female slaves, waist and bust size. He wrapped the tape around the section of her body above her hips, "Hm, waist is thin," he observed before he commanded her to lift her arms so he could wrap the tape around her breasts, "Oh lookie here, your bust is a bit big for your age." He said with a chuckle, "That may help you get sold." He said before using one of his hands to squeeze one of her breasts. Faye flinched slightly and Blaze heard Khan growl. "She's a good looking one, I think I can offer you 3000 Poké for her."

Biff looked appalled, "No way am I selling her for that low, 10,000." Blaze had seen this coming from a mile away.

"If she were brand new then maybe she'd be worth that, but she's had previous owners making her worth less." Blaze said, "I raise my offer to 7,000 Poké but nuthin more." He said.

Biff thought about it for a moment, "Fine, she's all yours. Do what you want with her, torture her, beat her, whip her, put her to work, whatever." Khan noticed that as Biff spoke he say a spark of fear flash in Faye eyes. "Just give me the money." Blaze went back to his desk and put the Poké into a back before handing it to Biff, in return he handed Blaze the lease that was attached to Faye and left.

Blaze went back to the desk and fastened the lease to it to prevent her from escaping. "Okay, now I can see this 'ere slave Turbo." Blaze said and Turbo made a signal to the other two Gijinka and they brought him in front of Blaze. "Where's his brand?" he asked.

"I don't know. He caused us too much trouble for us to check." Turbo said. Blaze examined the slave in front of his, the white bandanna tied around his forehead definitely sparked something familiar. Blaze grabbed the bandanna and pulled it off. There it was, right in the center of the slave's forehead was the pokéball brand with the number _130666_. Blaze's eyes narrowed and the flame coming out of the top on his head seemed to grow bigger, he knew that number all too well.

"Look me in the eyes slave," Blaze said in a tone that made everyone in the room interested in this slave. He looked up his hair covering one of his eyes, "Both eyes," Khan didn't move, "now." Khan raised his cuffed hands and pushed his hair to the side uncovering his golden eye.

Then, out of nowhere Blaze punched Khan very hard in the stomach causing him to double over in pain, fall to his knees and groan. Khan felt like emptying his stomach and he could feel the foul taste building in his throat, but he swallowed it back.

Turbo was fascinated by Blaze's sudden action, "If the slave needed to be taught a lesson, I could've done it myself." He said.

Blaze shook his head rage burning in his eyes, "Ya don't get it, this isn't just any slave. It's Khan Kensaki; he's a slave tha' we've been hunting for seven muking years, he's the slave that _escaped_." He added before kicking Khan in the chest and sending him to the floor, Faye watched the seen with slightly widened eyes. She had heard rumors of a slave escaping a few years ago, but she never believed them.

Turbo smirked knowing this information, "An escaped slave eh. Well then I guess he must be worth quite a bit." You almost see the Poké flashing in his eyes.

Blaze looked at Turbo, "A'ight, make your offer."

"50,000 Poké," he said with a neutral expression, Blaze was able to keep his expression neutral as well, which was surprising. That much Poké was enough to buy several slaves. Turbo continued, "You need this slave back into your keep, the slaves have probably heard stories about this one and you probably want to show them what happens to those that think about escaping." He said, Blaze had to admit that did sound tempting, "Besides, this one has cost me a lot." He said pointing to the eye patch he was wearing.

Blaze considered his offer, "Very well, it's a deal." He said and Turbo shook hands with Blaze to seal the deal.

Blaze handed Turbo the sack containing the Poké and Turbo handed over the keys to Khan's cuffs, "Thank you for your business." Turbo said, "C'mon boys." He said as he left the room with the two Gijinka following close.

Blaze looked at his two newest additions, "Well Faye, Khan; why don't we bring you two to meet your fellow humans." He said with a smirk. "I'm sure they're going to be more than happy to see you Khan." Khan didn't like where this was going.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **Alright, I think that's enough for this chapter. We've met our first OC, who was submitted by** **Imagination Heaven** **. Don't worry if your OC wasn't in this one, more OCs will be seen in the next chapter.**

 **Okay remember to tell me what you thought of this chapter by submitting a review, hope I update soon.**

 **Until next time, this is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Caged**

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* * *

The atmosphere inside the slave pens was what you expected, one of suffering and depression. There wasn't much activity happening, of course the slaves could do much while in their cages. Really the only thing they could do was comfort the slaves with low spirits.

Gijinka of all kinds and types would patrol around the cages, they had two simple jobs. Keep the slaves from trying to escape and keep them in line.

* * *

In one of the few cages that held one slave was a girl, She was standard and average-looking according to some standards, but compared to other slaves she was in her own way unique. She had long blonde hair and pale skin, both qualities you didn't entirely see very often when looking at the slaves you usually saw working in the fields. She was huddled up in the corner of her cage with her head bowed allowing her hair to cover the sides of her face. While most everyone else was silent, the girl was softly singing under her breath. While the song she was singing was a happy tune, but she sang it softly and in such a way that no one would ever guess that.

The slave singing the tune was Celia Foley, slave number 130765. Normally she was the well needed ray of sunlight among the dank atmosphere of slavery, but unfortunately she was in one of her depressed states, she often went into those after losing her family when she was 12.

* * *

Celia continue to sing softly until a hand banged against the bars of her cage causing her to jump, "Knock it off, one more chirp out of you little Chatot and you'll regret it." the Gijinka growled. Celia only nodded, her dark blue eyes wide with fear. The Gijinka grunt and continued patrolling.

* * *

It wasn't long before the silence was broken, this time it was by Blaze. "Ev'ryone teh yer feet, come meet teh new 'uns!" Blaze shouted while banging on the cell walls of every cage he passed. Celia, along with most the other slaves, noticed how Blaze wasn't alone. He was towing two slaves behind him. This interested everyone, Blaze brought in and out slaves all the time, never before had he made such a spectacle about it. "Guards, line 'em all up by the Post, I want ev'ryone the see this." Blaze commanded and the guards immediately got to work unlocking the cages and getting the slaves out of them.

Celia didn't like where this was going as the Gijinka lined her and the other slaves in front of the Post. The Post didn't look like much, it was a simple wooden pole that was stuck into the ground and was only a meter high with a pair of shackles and short chains attached to the top of the pole. The Post's only purpose was to teach any slaves that acted up a lesson, it hadn't been used for a while, mainly because they last time the Gijinka used it; the slave they were punishing didn't survive and so barely any of the slaves acted up in front of the Gijinka anymore.

* * *

Blaze looked at all the slaves with a fiery glint in his eye, he then pulled Khan's leash forward so he was in full view of everyone, "Does anyone know who this 'ere slave is?" he asked rhetorically, "Well, yeh should. He's been a symbol of 'ope fer freedom, 'e's slave number 130666, Khan Kensaki, AKA The White Bandana." He said.

* * *

Celia's eyes widened. The White Bandana, the slave who escaped the bonds of slavery over four years ago? Celia looked over to the slave. He looked…normal. She had heard stories about the White Bandanna, pretty much all of them described him as a taller than life, powerfully built man with a face chiseled from stone and extremely short hair and menacing scars on his face that would scare off any Gijinka that would dare chase after him. The slave in front of her didn't fit that description at all, he was of average height – maybe even below average – with a thin frame and a head full of messy unkempt hair. She had to admit though, he did have a pretty handsome face. When the slave seemed to look directly at her she looked in due to fear of being caught staring.

"Now ah of yer that 'ere thinking of escaping, don' even think about it. Teh only one to escape now stands before yer in chains once again. Now that we have 'im back, we now 'ave a chance to show yer what happens teh recaptured slaves." He said. He then gestured to some of the Gijinka guards and they forced Khan to his knees and fasten his wrists in the shackles attached to the Post. "A'ight, Gruff…do yer thing." Blaze said as he took a few steps back.

* * *

The crowd parted to let Gruff through, Gruff was a very large person with a stocky build, but he was powerfully built. He had two long back Gogoat horns coming out of the black plate that was in the same place as his forehead would be. He long brown hair that contrasted with his scruffy white beard. He was only wearing pats so everyone could clearly see the powerful muscles in his upper body, as well as the bush that seemed to be growing out of his neck and upper chest. Gruff was one of the more feared guards in the slave pens. What was he feared for? Well, he was the enforcer and deliverer of punishments.

The slaves knew what was coming as the enforcer approached Khan, Gruff gripped the article of clothing Khan used for a shirt and ripped it off with little trouble revealing Khan's pale scar-ridden torso. Gruff then took a few steps back then he put both arms to the side as his palms glowed green. A long thick green vine grew out of his left hand while Razor Leaves began to swirl out of the other. Then twisting his hand and wrist he impeded the leaves into the vine creating a whip.

Blaze smirked, "Gruff, use Vine Whip." He said in a smug tone. Gruff grunted and reeled his arm back before whipping the vine against Khan's back, the leaves ripping across and through his flesh.

Khan's hands gripped the Post, he gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut as pain erupted in his back, but he did not scream.

Blaze frowned, "Again." He said. The whip cracked again and Khan hissed in pain and let out a slight grunt. His back was marked with several wounds that were beginning to ooze blood. The slaves flinched every time the whip cracked, some of the younger ones had turned her gazes away from the scene.

* * *

The more the whip cracked, the more Khan's vision began to blur and the sounds all around him seemed muffled and more echoed. He heard the crack and spots danced before his eyes, the pain was nearly unbearable and he couldn't remain in consciousness.

Blaze growled as Khan's body slumped, his arms still shackled to the Post. "Get ever'one back in 'eir cages." Blaze said to the guards as he turned his back. He heard the Guards begin to escort the other slaves back to their cages. He then felt a slight tension in the leash he was holding, Blaze looked over his shoulder and saw Faye approaching Khan. Whether it was to help him or to see if he was alright he didn't know, but either way he wasn't going to let it happen. Blaze yanked on the leash hard and Faye yelped as she stumbled back a hand going to the front of her neck, "Don' e'en think 'bout it." Blaze said. Then he pointed to one of the guards, "Lock this un up, an' don' let an'un near the Post." He said passing the leash to the guard. The guard nodded and pulled Faye away towards the cages. With that being said and done Blaze left the slave pens.

* * *

Celia was trying to make herself comfortable in her cage when the door opened, "Looks like you have someone to keep you company slave." A Gijinka said before pushing the blonde slave she had seen earlier with Blaze and Khan into the cage and closed the door.

The girl had landed on the floor of the cage rather roughly and Celia immediately went to her side, "Are you alright?" she asked softly.

The girl sighed, "I'm fine. I've had worse." She said as she got into a seating position resting her back against the cage bars. Celia took a seat next to her.

There was a moment of silence before Celia spoke again, "It was horrible what they did to him." She said. "Why didn't they just kill him?"

Faye looked over at the Post at Khan's unconscious form, "The same reason they left him shackled to that post, they want to display him like a trophy, dishearten our spirits, show us that there's no hope." She said bitterly.

Celia looked at her, "Did you know him?" she asked, "I mean, you were brought in with him and some of the others did see you try to help him."

Faye shook her head, "No, the people that caught him brought him in as I was getting sold, I don't think I've heard him even make a sound since I met him." she said, come to think of it. Even while he was getting whipped he never once made a sound. She could see why, he didn't want to give the Gijinka the satisfaction.

* * *

It wasn't until the moon was high in the sky that Khan stirred. His back felt stiff and it pained to even make an attempt to bend it. He figure the blood that he lost had begun to scab and it would only make it worse if he were to try bending it, Khan also couldn't feel his arms. He craned his neck and saw that his hands had been chained above his head prevent the blood from properly circulating to his arms rendering them asleep.

Khan sighed and bowed his head, "Brilliant work you piece of shit," he muttered, "four years of running only to get chained up again." He said, his eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. There wasn't really anything he could do now, and his body was still weak so he closed his eyes and hoped for even an hour of sleep hoping that he wasn't in for another whipping tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning came and Blaze was fast asleep at his desk snoring rather loudly. He was in such a deep sleep that he didn't notice the customers coming into the area. He was jolted awake when a heavy metal fist slammed down on his desk, "A'ight a'ight I'm awake." Blaze muttered, "Who are yer trying to sell?" he said too tired to be looking at the customers.

"We're not here to sell," a steely voice said, "we're here to buy." Blaze grunted.

"If yeh wanna buy, the purchase are is over there." He said pointing a hand.

The customer growled and looked ready to retort, but a deep, somewhat gruff and very regal voice spoke up, "Daedalus, no need to cause a scene." Blaze froze and turned towards the voice he knew all too well, "Now now Blaze, I'm sure you can make an exception for someone such as I." the Gijinka said with a half-smile.

Blaze felt so stupid and embarrassed he thought his flame my go out, "My apologies, I had no idea it was you…King Plasmane."

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **I bet you guys thought this story was dead, well it isn't and I'm here to tell you that starting from this point on I will be making an effort to updating this story sooner.**

 **I would like to thank SemiPeacefulHippie for submitting Celia Foley, hopefully I captured her rather well. Now some of you might be thinking, 'Is he going to introduce one OC every chapter?" Well, the answer to that is no. I might introduce several characters at once, but will be given spotlights to one maybe two OCs in each chapter.**

 **Well I gotta go, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Leave a review telling me your thoughts and I'll try to update soon. This is W. R. Winters signing off.**

 **PS- I am willing to take requests on Gijinka you would like to see in upcoming chapters.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The King and the Wild Jacket**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

Khan was awakened by pain when he felt someone kick his injured back; he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from shouting in pain, "To your feet Slave, time to put you where you belong." The Gijinka said as he unlocked his hands, allowing his arms to fall limp to the floor. He flinched and the needle like feeling that ran up his body whenever his arm hit the floor, but he did his best to get up to his feet. The Gijinka then grabbed him and began to lead him toward one of the few empty cages in the slave pen, after opening the door he shoved Khan inside, "Get used to this, because you're going to be here for a long time." The Gijinka said as he walked away.

As Khan got into a more comfortable position, he could feel the eyes of the other slaves on him. He ignored them and focused on getting the blood back into his arms. As he did so he wondered what and when his next punishment would be. Would they whip him again, break his legs, drip acid onto his skin, force him to swallow embers and hot coals, or inject enough poison into his blood to make him suffer but not kill him; maybe even all of them at once? He didn't know, but it could be any one of them. The Gijinka want to make an example of him after all.

Khan gently leaned his back against the cage wall, wincing at the way the bars pressed into the scabs on his back, his face focused on the floor of his cage.

"I'll hand it to you; you can really take a punishment." Khan looked up towards the voice. It had come from a female slave in the cage next to his. She was a rather short and skinny, he could clearly see her scars that stood out from her dark skin. Her textured dark brown hair reached her shoulders, but what really drew her attention were her eyes, or I guess he should say _eye_. Her left eyes was a nice chocolate brown, but her other eye seemed to be missing. That's what Khan assumed due to the eye patch she was wearing. "You didn't even make a sound, you're tough."

Khan didn't say anything, but his eyes told her that he'd been through worse.

"I hear you," the girl said, "I've had my fair share of harsh punishments." She said while pointing to her eye patch. "They said your name was Khan. I'm Windy, Windy Larson." Khan nodded in acknowledgement, "Is it true that you escaped?" she asked, her voice didn't show it, but Khan could tell she was hopeful.

"Yes," Khan said, speaking for the first time since he arrived. He could feel the eyes look at him more intensely "but don't get your hopes up by thinking I'm going to bust out of here." He said before pulling his bandanna over his eyes. "For now, the best bet is to get sold." He muttered.

"I have been sold," Windy said, "that didn't help much when it came to escaping."

"Who said anything about escaping?" Khan asked, no one answered.

* * *

Blaze looked in shock and awe of the sight before him. The king was a Luxray Gijinka, and a rather impressive one at that. He wasn't the tallest Gijinka Blaze had ever encountered(in fact he was pretty average when it came to height), but the aura of intimidation he gave off certainly made him seem taller. He had a very lean and agile build, but it was clear that he had some muscle to him. His skin was slightly tanned and his face was chiseled in such a way, you'd think it was carved by a master stoneworker. The king's navy blue hair could better be described as a mane and was rather long and somewhat spiky. He also had a beard of a similar style, but it was more neatly trimmed. His eyes were a fierce electric yellow and held a gleam similar to the grin on his lips. He was wearing very fine clothing with a dark navy blue suit with light blue trim and gold buttons and cufflinks, matching pants, and shined black boots. His suit jacket had a busy fur collar and resting on his head was the golden crowned that marked him as king.

Next to the king was his personal guard and the leader of Sinnoh's armies; Admiral Daedalus, a Scizor Gijinka. Daedalus was a Gijinka that could easily make you wet yourself. He was several inches taller than the king and he had a much more powerful build with impressive muscles to match. His face was thin, angular and set into an almost permanent scowl with the brow line he had. Every part of Daedalus' body was clad is strong red steel armor and the helmet cast a shadow over the admiral's face, so all you could see what his grim frown.

Blaze needed a moment to take in the sight that was in front of him, the king was in his shop and was looking to buy, "Well, yeh said yere lookin' to buy." He said, as he opened a drawer and pulled out a box of cigars, "I'm sure we can find what yer lookin' fer." He said as he pulled out a cigar, "Cigar?" he asked holding out the box to them.

"No thank you." King Plasmane said, "You know I don't smoke, I'm not a fire-type after all." It was true that most fire-types took up smoking. That was because smoking had no effect on their health, if breathing fire doesn't affect them, then how would taking in a little smoke?

Blaze offered the box to Daedalus, but he turned him down with a grunt, "Suit yerself." He said as he put the box away. He then lit one of his thumbs on fire and lit the cigar he was holding with it, "A'ight," he said before taking a large draft, "Now, back teh-" Blaze was cut off when two Gijinka burst in. They were each holding onto the arm on a human that was struggling to get free.

"Blaze, we caught him!" the one on the left said.

Blaze growled at them, "Can't you see I'm in the middle of doing business with the king!" he said.

King Plasmane held up a hand, "It's quite alright, I can wait." He said and he took a few steps to the side and rested his back against the wall, it seemed odd for a Gijinka as regal him to be in such a casual position.

Blaze got up and walked around his desk to the Gijinka that just walked in, and then he examined the human they were holding. The human looked to be of average height, perhaps an inch or two shorter for his age. The human's build was slightly muscled, but not to the point of it being impressive. He got a brief looked at the human's face and saw it. It was rather handsome for a human, he had blue eyes and short blonde hair that was had some dirt in it. The only thing significant about the human's clothing was the brown leather jacket he was wearing. "A'ight, let's see who yeh caught. Where's deh brand?" he asked.

"Blaze, he doesn't have one." The Gijinka on the right said, "This is that wild human who's been causing trouble for us." He said.

That caught Blaze's interest slightly and then he saw the significance of the human's jacket, "Deh Wild Jacket?" he asked.

The human chuckled, "Seriously, that was the best you can come up with?" he asked with a laugh, but the laughter was short lived when Blaze hook punched him right in the center of his face and a loud snap was heard. The human's head was lurched to the side, then he looked back into Blaze's face, his nose was now bleeding and was now at a very weird angle. It was clear that his nose was broken and when it healed it would permanently be at very weird angle.

"There, yeh just lost dat pretty lil' face of yers." Blaze said, "If yeh don't shut up ye'll lose more than that." He said. The human didn't speak; instead he began to chuckle softly. "Is sumthin funny?" he asked.

The human spit out the blood that was in his mouth, the blood and spit went through the air and landed at the king's feet. "Sorry, I just can't get over how unoriginal that name is-" he didn't get to finish his sentence because a red pincer grabbed his throat.

Daedalus tightened his grip and began to choke him, "How dare you talk in the presence and spit in the direction of your king!" he said dangerously. "If I wanted to, I could snap your Arceus-damn head off."

"Alright Daedalus, that's enough." Plasmane said and the admiral released the human's throat allowing him to gasp for air. "Now Blaze, I assume you have business to take care of now. We can continue when you're finished with this animal."

"I'm not the animal here," the human said when regained his breath, "Us humans were just minding our own business, then you just had to come and enslave us." He said. Everything was silent for a few seconds, then there was a flash of yellow and a crackle before the human screamed in pain as his body glowed yellow. When the electricity faded the human's body nearly fell limp and was now trembling.

Everyone turned towards the king, who was holding up a hand with smoke coming off the tips of his fingers, "You're welcome." He said as the Blaze and the Gijinka started to drag the human. Plasmane looked at the human and saw he was still conscious, "One more thing." He said and they stopped, "I could have you killed right now, but that wouldn't be a lasting punishment. Mummy and Daddy aren't here to protect you now; so don't go strutting around here like you're someone important. You're not, so get that stupid grin off your face if you want to live to see the next week." He said, "And last I checked, the Gijinka weren't forcing humans into balls whenever they no longer needed them and stored them in a computer for the rest of eternity when they exceeded their usefulness. Yeah, I guess you're not the animal here, my mistake." He said and when he made a dismissing gesture, they dragged him away to the slave pens.

* * *

The depressing atmosphere hit the human like punch to the face; it made him sick to his stomach and caused him to groan, "Oh Muk, I think I'm going to lose my breakfast."

"Shut up." Blaze said around the cigar in his mouth. Blaze led the Gijinka that were holding the human down to the place were slaves were registered. He grabbed a slave form and began to fill it out, "Now let's see. Skills…unknown, but looks strong fer a human. Negative qualities…won't shut up, best keep a muzzle on 'im and doesn' know 'is place, regular punishments recommended." He muttered, "What's deh human's name?" he asked.

"It's Nate Xerna." The human said. One of the Gijinka holding him punched him in the stomach.

"Human's aren't permitted to speak to their Gijinka superiors." He said. "His name is Nate Xerna."

"Thank yeh." Blaze said as he finished up the paperwork. "Now, what's left is deh brand and slave number." He said, "Take off 'is jacket." Blaze said. The Gijinka went to take it off, but Nate began to resist more.

"If you attempt to take it off I will kill you." Nate said the anger clear in his voice. Blaze walked towards Nate and looked him dead in the eye.

"Unless yeh want us teh brand yeh through yer jacket, I suggest yeh comply." He said, "We ain't animals, ye'll get deh jacket back. We just want yeh teh make this easier fer us." He said. Nate glared at Blaze for a few seconds before he stopped resisting and allowed the Gijinka to take the jacket of him. "Good boy, now don't try anything," he said as the Gijinka handed him the jacket, "or I won' hesitate to turn this 'ere jacket into ash." He said.

"You'll be the first to die if you do," Nate said, "you have no idea what I'm capable off." He said.

His threat didn't even faze Blaze, "Yer right, I don'." Blaze admitted, "But I know what I'm capable, and what deh rest of these Gijinka 'ere are capable of. Some can breathe fire, others can control plants or the ground beneath yer feet, a few dat can control yer mind and convince yer to throw yerself into a spear, mos' of dem can crush yer skull withou' struggle." He said, "Yeh don't stand a chance against all of us; yer just a human, keep dat in mind." He said, "Put him on deh table and keep 'im restrained." As if Nate weighed nothing, the Gijinka holding him lifted him up and slammed his back on the table and locked his legs into the clamps and held his arms and shoulders down.

Blaze approached Nate with a brass knuckle on his hand. The brass knuckle had the pokeball brand attached to it and was glowing orange, then he grabbed Nate's shirt and ripped it open, revealing his chest, "Be sure teh hold 'im down tight." Blaze said.

"Yes sir."

Blaze waited for a second or two, then without warning or hesitation, Blaze pressed the brand into the center of Nate's chest right above his heart. The smell of burning flesh filled the air and Nate screamed from the pain, he had been planning to brace himself, but the lack of warning left him unprepared. Blaze pressed the brand deeper into him, his face completely expressionless, and left it there for a good while before removing the brand. The pokeball burn mark was deep and designed to leave a scar.

"A'ight, now fer 'is slave number." He said before grabbing a long metal quill, as he held it in his finger the tip began to glow bright orange. Blaze placed the quill under the pokeball and began to slowly drag it across Nate's skin. "One…three…one," he began, burning the numbers as he said them, "one…zero…zero." He finished and removed the quill. Blaze then looked at Nate's face, which was set into a pain-filled grimace, "Welcome teh deh slave trade. They called yeh 'Deh Wild Jacket'. Now yer known as Slave Number 131000." He said before hitting him right not his new mark, causing Nate to gasp in pain. Blaze passed the leather jacket to one of the Gijinka holding Nate down, "Lock 'im up, I don't care which cage you choose, just lock 'im up."

"Should we cuff him sir." One of them asked.

Blaze shook his head, "Y'know we stopped using dem months ago." He said, "Just slap him on his brand if he starts to resist." He said before walking away.

* * *

Just when Khan thought he was going to get some peace, the door to his cage opened and he felt the cage shake slightly – he winced and the shaking bars rattled against his back wounds – as another human was thrust into the cage. Khan pulled down his bandanna so he could look at his new cellmate, who was putting on a brown leather jacket. He cot a brief look at the male's chest and saw his brand mark was fresh from how it looked and how it smelled.

The male noticed Khan's look and smiled at him; Khan almost recoiled at the sight. His smile was the first thing he noticed; the he saw the crusted blood and the broken nose. Judging from the smile he was giving him, Khan figured that the male in front of him deserved it. "Hello, it's a real pleasure to see another human." His voice was optimistic, how Khan didn't know. "What's your name?"

Khan didn't know how to respond to this, as did the other slaves, in this environment and lifestyle you could only pretend to be happy, "…Khan, Khan Kensaki." He said, then after a bit of hesitation he said, "The White Bandanna."

The male's smile seemed to widen, "Well now it's a real pleasure, I heard about how you're the slave that escaped." He said, "I'm Nate Xerna, you may have heard of me as well. The guards refer to me as 'The Wild Jacket'." Khan's eyes widened, but only slightly, and the title seemed to catch the attention of the other slaves as well.

"The wild human that was raised by Gijinka, the human who lived life without a brand; that's you?" he asked, his eyes slightly narrowing. Some of the other slaves eyed Nate as well.

Nate's smile became proud, "Ah so you have heard of me-" Nate was cut off when one of Khan's feet suddenly shot out and struck Nate in the center of his chest, and right on his brand. The sudden strike sent Nate back and he slammed into the side of the cage and he slumped slightly to the ground.

"Damn right I've heard of you." Khan said, his tone of voice taking on one of hatred.

Nate looked at Khan with a mixture of shock and confusion, "Okay, what was that for?"

"You think what you're known for is something to be proud of?" Khan asked, "I'm also giving the others what they want." He said, Nate looked around and saw some of the other humans were slightly smiling.

"Why would they want that, I'm one of you aren't I?" Nate asked; some of the other humans snickered at his response.

Khan wanted to laugh, but he didn't even smile. "You were raised by the ones that are the reason we suffer, you really think that makes you ones of us?"

From the cage next door, Windy spoke up, "The rest of us would give anything to kick the oh-so-perfect Gijinka right in their guts, but since we want to live; we can't risk that, so you're close enough." she said, "Of course you wouldn't know, you haven't suffered like the rest of us."

"Excuse me; I've suffered just as much as you." Nate said as he looked at Windy.

Windy raised her eyebrows, her eye patch shifting slightly "You really think you can look at me with both of those eyes and claim you've suffered as much as me?" she asked before readjusting her eye patch.

"Or me?" Khan asked. When Nate turned his gaze back to him, Khan shifted his body around so Nate could see his already scarred back bloodied with the whip scar he'd gotten the day before. After Khan thought Nate had gotten a good enough look he sent back to his previous position, "I can only imagine how much fun the Gijinka will have breaking you." he said.

Nate's gaze became more intense, "Who's to say I'm not already broken?" he asked.

For the second time that day; Khan almost thought of grinning, but he didn't, "The second I saw that stupid smile I knew that you weren't broken." He said, "You don't even know the meaning of the word." He said.

"I know more than you." Nate said, "I know at least six different ways to kill you in this cage."

"That's Gijinka talk." Khan said. "Who taught you that, the ones that raised you?"

"Yes," Nate said, "and not all Gijinka are like the ones you're used to."

"Oh yeah, I definitely learned that lesson. I ran into a Gijinka once that didn't seem like the others, but then again that was before he gouged one of my eyes out." Windy said. "Anyone who has associated positively with the Gijinka isn't on good terms with me, or a lot of us."

"You'll warm up to be eventually." Nate said, that stupid smile coming back onto his face.

"I won't even consider you to be a human being until you're broken," Khan said, "talk to me then and we'll see."

Nate whipped his head towards Khan, "And what do you know about being broken, you escaped the bonds of slavery."

Khan pushed his bangs to the side so that both his eyes and his brand were clearly visible, "You wanna know what it means to be broken?" he asked. "You saw your parents get arrested, I saw mine die. It wasn't quick, it was slow and torturous. They didn't do anything, I was like you and they paid the price so my owners could teach me a lesson. I'm not the only one here that had to go through that." Khan said, "You had a loved one die in your arms, I had to kill a loved to put an end to their suffering." Khan said. "You know how to kill and how to do it without hesitation? I know what it feels like _to be_ killed, and if given the option, I would gladly accept it." Khan said, his gaze unwavering as he stared Nate down. "You say you're broken. I was the one to set the limit on how far a human could go before breaking. So no, you aren't broken. Not compared to the rest of us." He said. "I escaped, but it was at a price, and for what? I'm back in a cage talking to all of you, so it was all for nothing."

Nate went to say something, but a Gijinka guard beat him to it, "Everyone shut up, that's enough story time." He said as he banged on the cage. Everything grew silent as Khan leaned back in his spot and pulled his bandanna back over his eyes.

* * *

"Now dat we have dat taken care of," Blaze said as he returned to his desk, "we can get back the business." He said as he looked at Plasmane, "So yer majesty, what is it yer looking fer? Maids, servants, cooks, field or yard workers, participants for deh Games, maybe even a slave fer pleasures in deh bedroom."

Plasmane chuckled at the last one, "Blaze, you know that the only one I have ever bedded was my wife." He said.

Blaze took a short draft of his cigar, "Ah yes, Queen Vera." Blaze then bowed his head in grief before looking up, "Arceus rest her soul, may she forever reside in deh Hall of Origins." He said before going back to smoking his cigar.

"Thank you." the king said, "Now, as you probably know, my daughter will be turning 16 in a couple days." He said.

Blaze titled his head from side to side, "I 'ave 'eard whispers." He said.

"This means that she'll be old enough for suitors to try and claim her hand. It's also the age of when she can own her own slaves." He said, "So, I figured that I would get her a few slaves as a birthday present. Though, I do admit that I will need a few more slaves to replace some of my older ones."

Blaze nodded, "Ah I see, any specific type of slave yer looking fer?" he asked.

"Young," Plasmane said, "I need one that are young enough, and strong enough to last a long time." He said. "I would also like to see the slaves you have available that fill my needs."

"Of course," Blaze said, "Allow me the take yeh the deh back." He said.

* * *

The slave pens were quiet, but that changed when Blaze walked in. "All rise, fer yer in deh presence of yer king." He said. The slaves and the guards stood up as Plasmane and Daedalus walked in, "Guards, round up every slave between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Deh king is looking the buy." He said.

The guards did as they were commanded and rounded up all the slaves that fit into that age rage. Among them were Khan, Nate, Windy, Faye, and Celia. "Der you go yer majesty, take yer pick." Blaze said. The lineup was pretty long, but that didn't seem to concern King Plasmane. He began to walk down the row and examine every slave he passed carefully.

* * *

When he passed Celia, she tried to put on a brave front, but found it hard under the King's electric yellow gaze. When he examined Faye, he looked her over and moved on, Faye rolled her eyes afterwards knowing the king was probably checking out her curves. When the king examined Windy, she glared right back into the King's eyes, not a speck of fear or respect was in her stare. When passing Nate, he gave the king a slight smile that said "Remember me?" Plasmane only grunted and moved forward. He passed by a few more slaves before he reached Khan, the king stopped and seemed to be examining Khan the closest and the longest. His gaze was looking towards the ground, "Look me in the eyes human," he said, "it's rude not to look someone in the eye when they're talking to you." Khan lifted up his head and looked the King in the eye. The king seemed to eye him curiously before his gaze looked briefly at his bandanna around his neck and the brand on his forehead before moving on and continuing his examination with the other slaves.

* * *

A few minutes later the king returned to Blaze, "I think I've made my decision." He said.

"A'ight, then point dem out and den we can determine a price and I'll give you der papers." Blaze said. "Yeh heard 'im slaves, if 'e points at yeh, step forward. Be glad if 'e does, it means yer getting bought."

Plasmane walked down the row again, "I'll take…her and her." He said pointing a finger at Faye and Celia, they stepped forward. "I'll take him." he said pointing towards a shy-looking young boy, who stepped forward. "And those two." he said pointing to an older, taller and stronger looking male who stepped forward and the shorter more sturdy looking male next to him. "I'll also take her and her." He said pointing to Windy and a female slave that was next to her, both stepped forward. "And lastly…him." he said pointing to an olive skinned male.

Blaze grinned, "A fine selection yer majesty." Blaze said, "A'ight, guards! Put the rest of the slaves back in their cages." He said. The guards began to move, but Plasmane held up a hand.

"On second thought, I think I'll take the White Bandanna and the Wild Jacket as well." He said sending every Gijinka in the room into a stunned silence. Blaze's jaw dropped to the point that his cigar fell out of his mouth.

"Yer majesty, are yeh sure?" Blaze asked.

Plasmane looked at Blaze, "Did I stutter?" he said, "You told me to choose, and I've chosen. If it's a matter of money, then I believe the proper response is 'name your price', if it's a matter of you not getting the chance to punish them. I assure you I will give them exactly the type of treatment they deserve." He said.

Blaze fumbled over his words for a minute before he sighed, "A'ight, I'll get der papers and tell you my price." He said.

Plasmane nodded, "Good, Admiral." He said turning to Daedalus, who stood at attention at hearing his name, "Cuff those slaves and keep an eye on them, I don't want any of them getting away." He said.

"Yes sire." Daedalus said and Plasmane walked away with Blaze and Daedalus got to work.

* * *

As Daedalus approached each slave to cuff them, Nate tried to contain his excitement. His dad had taught him how to break out of cuffs, as soon as he was cuffed, as soon as the Gijinka turned his back, he could break loose and be home free. Maybe he could even take some of the other slaves with him. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a clicking of metal and felt something cold envelope his hands. Nate looked down at his hands and was shocked. His hands weren't held together by cuffs; instead they were trapped inside a cylinder of metal that were unmarked, attached to the cuffs was a thick steel chain that attached his cuffs to the other slave's cuffs.

"There will be no breaking out of these cuffs." Daedalus said as if reading his mind, "No lock and no key, just pure skin-tight metal. Only a steel-type can use them, and only a steel-type can break them, ice-types will only cause them to get tighter, and a fire-type would only result in you losing your hands." Nate looked into what he saw of Daedalus' face. All he saw was the shadow that was casted over the admiral's face and a slight smirk, "Looks like Daddy's lessons won't help you this time, next time maybe you should take lessons from a Gijinka that _isn't_ retired." He said before moving on.

* * *

Plasmane and Blaze worked out a price for the slaves and Blaze became significantly richer as King Plasmane handed over the sacks of Poké, "Always a pleasure doing business with you Blaze." Plasmane said as he shook hands with the slave broker.

"Deh pleasure's all mine yer highness. I hope yer satisfied with yer purchase." Blaze said as he handed the slave papers to the king, "I trust yeh already have a means fer transporting dem?"

"Of course, it's a long journey to Castle Spear Pillar after all." Plasmane said, seconds later Daedalus came back into the room. He was leading the slaves behind him through the use of the chain that was attached to the hip of his armor. "Nice of you to join us Daedalus, now we can take our leave." He said as he turned around and walked outside with Daedalus following and pulling the slaves along.

* * *

How they would be getting to their destination would be through the use of a small train of carriages that were being pulled by a group of four Zebstrika and a Rapidash in the lead. The leading carriage was the fanciest and clearly Plasmane's. The carriages behind it were clearly for the slaves; they were less like carriages and more like cages on wheels. They were of different sizes, the first was the largest and could hold up to five slaves while the two behind it could only hold three at the most.

"Alright Daedalus, load them up." Plasmane said as he went to his carriage and entered it.

* * *

For the next ten minutes, Daedalus loaded the slaves into the cages. He put Windy, the shy boy, the olive skinned male, the sturdy male, and the female that was next to her in the lineup in the first cage. He put Khan, Celia and Faye in the second cage. Then lastly, he put Nate and the tall strong looking slave in the last and final cage. Daedalus then walked to the front carriage and took his place on the seat that was attached to the back of it so he could watch the slaves during the trip. "Let's go." Daedalus said and the coach snapped a whip and the Rapidash and Zebstrika began to move forward.

* * *

In his carriage Plasmane looked through the slave papers, "Now, which of these slaves would be a good present for my little Sparkling?" He asked himself.

* * *

The cages rattled slightly as they moved and Khan winced slightly as t=he felt the bars rub against his back, "Are you alright?" Khan looked toward the voice and saw Celia giving him a concerned look.

"I'm fine," Khan said.

"It wasn't right what they did." Celia said, "Whipping you like that." Khan eyed her and saw that she was being completely honest.

"I appreciate the sentiment," Khan said. "What's your name?"

"Celia Foley." She said giving him a slight smile.

Khan nodded and looked towards Faye, "They said your name is Faye, right?" he asked.

"Yeah." She responded.

"Well, a pleasure to be with both of you." he said.

"I didn't think pleasure was an emotion you felt," Faye said, "judging from how you were talking back at the pens."

"That Wild Jacket needed to know his place," Khan said, "plus, the best bet was to get purchased, and that's where we are. On our way to our new home, and we were bought by the king on top of that. This is a good time to be feeling pleasure." He said.

"If you're feeling pleasure, why won't you smile?" Celia asked.

Khan looked at her with almost sad eyes, "I haven't smiled in years. So be honest, I believe I've forgotten how to smile."

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **Before I begin, there are some people I want to thank. I would like to thank Blade5678 for submitting Nate Xerna and I would also like to thank Mystery Again for submitting Windy Larsen. There were also some other OCs mentioned in this chapter, but no not worry, they will be properly introduced and credited in the next chapter.**

 **Now we've gotten a couple more characters, so I want you guys to tell me your opinions of them. What do you think of Khan? What are your thoughts on King Plasmane? Which of the OCs we've introduced so far do you like the most?**

 **Next chapter, we will be getting a better look into the working life of a slave. So be sure to look forward to.**

 **We also learn that King Plasmane has a daughter; would anyone care to guess what kind of Gijinka she will be? I'll give you a hint; she's an electric-type, but not a member of the Luxray evolution line.**

 **That's all I have time for, be sure to leave a review telling me your thoughts.**

 **This is W. R. Winters signing off**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Cage Ride**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

Nate was very uncomfortable, and he was really trying not to let it show. The cage kept rattling around, the bench he was sitting on wasn't very comfortable, his nose still ached from when Blaze broke it. he wanted to relocate the broken bone, but the metal enveloping his hands and part of his forearms made it impossible to move them, which sucked because they were beginning to itch. Nate sighed, how long had they been traveling? Twenty minutes, an hour, more? It was impossible to tell with no way to tell time other than the position of the sun, and he had no idea how to tell time that way.

Nate's boredom was interrupted when his cell mate – the only other person in the cage – spoke, "So, you're the Wild Jacket?" Nate turned his attention towards him.

The slave looked to be about his age, while Nate considering himself to be pretty fit. The male in front of him was several inches taller and much better build. His tan skin was marked by small white scars on his legs and bare torso. He had dark brown hair that was long enough to reach his mid-back, it was also very wild and spiked out all over the place. The slave in front of him looked like – as much as he would hate to admit it – a wild animal.

Nate looked into the male's wild green eyes and almost was afraid to answer, "Yes, yes I am." Nate said.

The slave cocked his head to the side and gave him an interesting look, then actually grinned. "Well, it'll be good to have someone like you around." Nate was taken aback, "The name's Nicolas Clave, Slave Number 130957." He said while flexing his right bicep to reveal the slave brand and slave number. Nate took note of the fact that the slave's(Nicolas') bicep was pretty big.

Nate was confused as Nicolas offered a hand, but shook it, "…You don't hate me, like the others?"

"Ah, they don't hate you. They just need some way to release all the built up negativity towards the Gijinka. There's not much you can do in those pens without getting punished." He said, "But I will admit the fact that you grew up being raised by the Gijinka-"

"I wasn't always raised by them." Nate said, his tone slightly more quiet.

Nicolas raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

Nate nodded, "Yeah, for about tenish years I was on my own, completely wild and somewhat primal. Frankly I don't even know how I survived until Matt and Allie found me, those were the Gijinka that…civilized me I guess." He explained, then he looked at Nicholas and then at the other slaves, "So, were you guys born into slavery."

Nicholas shrugged, "More or less, though I didn't start working 'till I was five. I assume that's how it is with most slaves, they're taught basic skills in communication and other things like that. Once they get the basics they're put to work and they pick up everything else they need to from then." He explained before looking around, "Man, what would I give to be out of these bars…I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

Nate shook his head, "No, I could probably get us out if not for these damn cuffs." He said. If they just covered his hands then he may have been able to dislocate his thumb and slipped them out, but nope. They went beyond his wrists to his forearm. "But maybe we can at least come up with a plan." Nate said. Nicolas' grin grew wider as a mischievous glint entered his eyes.

* * *

Plasmane was looking over the papers, he had stamped three of them. The three that he stamped were the slaves he planned to give to his daughter, "Hopefully this will work." He muttered, "She needs to learn if she's to continue my legacy." He said as he stroked his beard. His thoughts were interrupted when the carriage came to a stop. Plasmane looked out the window, they weren't at Castle Spear Pillar. So why were they stopping?

Plasmane opened the door to the carriage and looked around, they were in a city, more specifically in front of a wealthy looking manor, "Admiral, may I ask why you've stopped us?" he asked the Gijinka.

Daedalus turned towards his king and bowed, "My apologies, but this family has missed paying taxes this month, I figured since we were already passing by we could stop so I could collect on the taxes, as well as compensation." He explained.

Plasmane thought about it for a minute, "Very well, just be quick about it." he said as he closed the door to his carriage.

* * *

Daedalus looked at the Azumarill Gijinka in front of him, "Normally I would request that you send your taxes to Castle Spear Pillar, but unfortunately you missed this month's payment, so I need to collect the taxes _and_ compensation."

"We can't pay you any more than that, times were rough this month and we could barely scratch up enough money for taxes this month." The Gijinka said.

"I don't want to hear your excuses, do you have any valuables or slaves you can offer in the place of money?" he asked.

He thought for a moment, "We have one maid, she's young, but she's faithful and very obedient." He said.

"Very well." Daedalus said, "Bring her here."

The Gijinka grabbed a bell that was attached to his belt and rang it. Within seconds a young petite girl entered the room, "Y-y-yes m-master?" she said, her voice was gentle, but she seemed to be stuttering a little.

The father opened his mouth, but Daedalus spoke first, "Go get her slave papers, I'll explain." He said. The father nodded and walked away. The Admiral then looked at the girl, "You're master was late on his tax payment so he needed to provide something extra to make up for it. He decided to give us you."

The girl looked up, "S-so, y-y-you're my new m-master?" she asked.

Daedalus shook his head, "No, I have no need for a slave. Your new master…is the King." He said.

* * *

After the papers were exchanged and the taxes were given, Daedalus walked out, the slave following close behind him. Daedalus walked up to Plasmane's carriage and knocked on the door. "What is it Admiral?" Plasmane asked from inside.

"Your Highness, the compensation they chose was to give as a slave in addition to their taxes. I wish to give you the slave's papers." Daedalus said. The door opened and Plasmane stepped out. The admiral handed him the slave's papers and he looked them over, "I believe she may be a slave that you can give to your daughter." He said in a more quiet voice.

Plasmane finished reading the papers and looked up, "Let me see this slave." He said, Daedalus stepped to the side to reveal the girl standing behind him, her gaze was down she he couldn't see her face. "Eyes up…Echo Sinclair." He said, pausing to look at the slave's name, "I want to get a good look at you." the slave was hesitant to look up, but she did.

The first thing the king noticed about her was the crescent-shaped port wine stain that marred her cheek, it went from the corner of her eye to the bottom of her jaw. Her maid outfit that she wore over her petite willowy-frame gave her a somewhat fragile look. Her dark blue hair was held in a plaited bun at the nape of her neck, and there was a black headscarf wrapped around her hair to keep it in place. She had bangs that covered her forehead and ended right above her eyes. She had muddy brown eyes that were framed with dark, thick eyelashes. Plasmane had to admit, she was beautiful for a human, but there was something else…

"Should I put her with the others?" Daedalus asked.

Plasmane looked at the cages, then back towards the girl, or Echo, "No, she can ride with me."

"Sir?" Daedalus asked slightly shocked.

"You heard me." Plasmane said, "We need to get on our way." He said turning around and climbing back into his carriage. Echo followed him in.

Daedalus walked back to his spot on the back of the king's carriage, "Let's move." He said and the carriage started moving again.

* * *

Echo sat in the corner of the carriage, putting as much distance as she could between them. "Echo," she jumped and looked towards the king, "Your papers say that you're a very effective maid, would you say that's true?" she nodded, "Good, because I have a daughter around your age who could use a new maid, I think you'd get along with her." He said.

Echo bit her lip, "I-I thought I was s-supposed to b-be your slave?" she asked.

Plasmane gave her a strange look, then within the blink of an eye Plasmane was right next to her, "And I thought it was impossible for a human and a Gijinka to breed." He said before pulling off her headscarf to reveal two Zubat ears on the top of her head. Echo was now terrified as she grabbed the headscarf out of the king's hands and put it back over her hair to recover her ears.

"H-how…h-how d-d-d-did y-you?" she asked, she was panicking, which made her stuttering even worse.

Plasmane eyes lightly glowed for a blink, "My Luxray blood gives be eyesight so strong I can see through solid walls, I noticed something odd about you and took a good look at you. I was surprised to see a human with wings and a pair of tails, I knew you couldn't be a Gijinka, because you're clearly not blind, and you're also wearing contacts." He said, Echo got the hidden message and reached to her eyes and removed the muddy brown contacts, revealing her dark grey eyes. "You're not fully human, and you're not fully Gijinka…you're a Hybrid."

Echo felt herself shrink under the king's gaze, "W-what are you g-g-going t-t-to do with m-me?" she asked.

Plasmane gaze remained on Echo for what seemed like a long time, then he surprised her when he began to chuckle, the chuckle soon turned into a full blown laugh. It was as if a thunder storm was erupting from his throat. When he laughing quieted down he looked at Echo, "Did you honestly think I was going to do anything to you?" he said, a smile still on his face.

"Y-you're not?" she said.

The king shook his head, "No, of course not. Why would I do something to you?"

Echo looked down at herself, "B-because…"

"Because you're half human?" he asked. Echo nodded, "Well, it may be a surprise to you, but I don't hate humans." He said, Echo's eyes widened slightly. Plasmane sighed and put an arm around Echo's shoulders as if she was his own blood, "Echo, allow me to educate you about something…" He said.

* * *

Khan looked at the cage behind him and saw that Nate and the slave he was with were still talking, most likely about escaping. "Whatever it is they're planning, all it's going to bring them is more pain." He muttered.

"For someone who has tasted freedom, you don't seem to like it very much." Khan looked to see Faye, Celia was currently asleep and leaning against her, so she was doing her best not to wake her.

"People don't understand," he said, "Once you escape your masters, you're not free; only running." Khan leaned his back against the cell bars and looked at the sky and sighed. "Well, I'm not going to try and put a damper on things, I don't really know much about you Faye, expect for the fact that you were a sex slave." He said.

Faye smiled slightly, "Well that's all you really need to know, unless you want me to go into detail about what the sex slave life was like."

Khan shuddered, "Oh Arceus no." he said and Faye laughed.

"Are you sure, I could tell you about this one Gijinka-" Faye began.

Khan covered his ears, "No, please just stop." He said and Faye laughed even more.

* * *

Nate and Nicolas were grinning, "Okay you know the plan?" Nate asked.

Nicolas nodded, "You bet."

"Remember we left a pretty big town a little ways back, if we can make it there. We can lose them in the crowd." Nate said, "And remember, we try to get the others out first. This isn't just a make and break." He said and Nicolas nodded, "Okay, let's put this plan into action." Nate said.

Nicolas nodded, then he began to growl and look very angry, "Okay that's it, I've had enough of your smartass attitude, I'll kill you right now!" he said as he threw himself at Nate. Nate got out of the way and Nicolas collided into the side of the cage making it jerk a bit, the collision didn't seem to affect Nicolas because he continued to chase Nate around the cage, he couldn't really do much with his arms, but he didn't seem to care. Nate had to admit Nicolas was being rather convincing.

* * *

Daedalus heard the commotion and growled, "Stop the carriage." He said as he got up and rushed towards the last cage in the line, normally he would've let the slaves fight it out, but unfortunately some of these slaves were going to be gifts for the princess, he didn't know which ones so all of them had to be in good shape. He got to the cage, "What's going on in there?" he asked.

"He's gone insane, he's trying to kill me!" Nate said, fear in his eyes. "You have to get him away from me!"

Daedalus looked annoyed, "Alright alright, I'll help you." he said as he reached for his belt, as he did so Nate grew hopeful, he was reaching for his keys, and when he opened the door; they would strike. Nate grew confused when he pulled out a bag and reached his hand inside it, did he keep his keys in the bag? "Yeah Mange!" he said, somewhat impulsively Nicolas looked towards Daedalus. Then with lightning fast reflexes the admiral shot his hand out and sent some green powder straight into Nicolas' face.

Nicolas coughed a bit and stumbled around, but his movements quickly became groggy. Nicolas looked at Nate, "Well, that failed." He said before he collapsed to the ground fast asleep, snoring pretty loudly.

Nate looked at Daedalus' pouch, "SSP, or Synthetic Sleep Powder, not as powerful as the actual stuff, but it's enough. All guards that can't create their own Sleep Powder have to use this stuff, but we are only given limited amounts so we're supposed to use it wisely." He said, Nate felt his spirits fall, their escape attempt had failed, "You're welcome," he said, "Actually, the slave was right. I think we're all getting tired of your smartass attitude, I think we all deserve to ride out the rest of our journey in peace." He said as he reached into the pouch again. "Oh don't worry, it'll be peaceful...and dreamless." He said before sending some of the SSP into Nate's face. He tried not to breath it in, but it was too late. The exhaustion soon overcame him and he was asleep before he hit the floor of the cage.

Daedalus walked pass the cages, "Thank you." Daedalus turned to look at the slave who had spoken, it was Khan. Daedalus raised his chin so that there was no longer a shadow over his face. Daedalus' orange eyes stared into Khan's and nodded before continuing on his way.

He got back to his spot and shouted, "Proceed!" and the carriages lurched before continuing.

* * *

Hours passed and Khan knew they were getting close. He could tell because they had started going up Mt. Coronet an hour ago the temperature was starting to drop, it was at slow drop, but it was still noticeable. Celia must of noticed as well because she was stirred from her sleep. She sat up and looked around, "Where are we?" she asked.

"We're going up Mt. Coronet," Khan said, "and we're getting close to our new home." He said, he felt something cold and wet hit his skin and he looked up. "Celia, Faye, you two might want to get closer to each other. It's beginning to snow."

Faye looked at Khan, "You're not going to join us?" she asked.

"I might later, but you guys staying warm is my main priority at the moment." Khan said, "Besides, I don't get cold easily." He said as he closed his eyes and began to focus on his breathing. Celia and Faye looked at Khan before they did their best to get as close to each other as they could.

* * *

As the carriages continued up the mountain, the snow began to fall harder, luckily it wasn't very windy today, otherwise the journey would've been much longer. Nate and Nicholas woke up and around the same time, both of them having a thin layer of snow on them. They quickly made quick to brush the snow off of themselves and looked around them.

"How long was I out?" Nicolas asked?

"I don't know, they knocked me out too." Nate said, "The plan failed."

"Yeah I figured that out on my own." Nicolas said sarcastically.

Nate ignored the comment, "Looks like we'll have to wait until we get to our destination to think of another escape plan." He said quietly. He looked ahead of the carriages to see that they were approaching what looked like the entrance to a cave, the cave entrance was sealed by a very heavy looking iron door with a Gijinka guarding on either side. "And it looks like that's going to be soon."

* * *

As the carriage approached the gate, the two Gijinka guarding it moved to open it. They grabbed two handles and, with a great deal of strength, slowly pulled them open. The carriage and the cages were pulled inside the dark cavern and the Gijinka pushed the gate closed behind them, sending them into darkness.

It was dark for a few seconds before the cavern was lit by torches, Plasmane got out of his carriage with Echo following him, "Daedalus, get the slaves out of their cages and chain their cuffs." He instructed. The admiral nodded and went to unlock the cages.

About ten minutes later, all the slaves that were in the cages were chained together in a single file line. Daedalus looked over at Echo, "Should I attached her to the others your majesty?"

Plasmane shook his head, "I wouldn't worry about her, I don't think she'll run." He said as he turned around, "Let's move." He said as he started walking down the cavern, Daedalus followed pulling the chain the slaves were attached to.

* * *

The cavern was a pretty long walk, but soon they arrived at another door guarded by Gijinka. As Plasmane approached, the Gijinka went to open the door. As they opened it, light flooded the cavern temporally blinding the slaves, but they kept walking. When all of them got through the door, it was closed behind them. Then after a while, all of the slaves opened their eyes and were at awe.

* * *

They near the top of Mt. Coronet, so high that they were above the snow clouds that they were just under, leaving the sky to be perfectly clear. They realized it was evening, because the sky was a brilliant sunset orange color. But what really was a marvel was the castle itself. It was enormous, stretching even higher into the sky, built on top of and even carved into the remainder of the mountain. The castle was made from a light colored stone and truly a magnificent sight **(1)**.

* * *

King Plasmane turned around and looked at the slaves stretching his arms to the side in a welcoming fashion, "Welcome slaves, to Castle Spear Pillar." He said with a smile on his face.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

 **(1) – To get a better picture of what Castle Spear Pillar looks like. Look up "Pokémon Castle Phoenix Academy" It should be one of the first images that pops up.**

* * *

 **Another chapter written and completed. Now before I continue I'd like to thank Nicranger for submitting Nicholas Clave. And I also want to thank BlackRoseEden28 for submitting Echo Sinclair. Both characters were great and I hope I did a good job at portraying them.**

 **Now, if any of you believe I'm not portraying your character correctly, let me know and tell me how I can do better.**

 **Next chapter we get to see how things are in Castle Spear Pillar, we also get to meet the princess, or Plasmane's daughter. The contest to guess what kind of Gijinka she is is still open so submit your guesses.**

 **Also I have a question for all of you, what characters are you beginning to ship? Don't lie I know it's been happening, so I'm curious as to what shippings you've spotted. Who knows, maybe the shippings you point out to me may become canon.**

 **Okay everyone, I hope to see even more of you next time. Now that it's summer break I'll have more time to write, which means that updates will be more frequent. Be sure to leave a review.**

 **This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Slave Placements**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

Plasmane took note of the slaves' awed expressions with a proud smile on his face, "Now, as much as I'd love to show you around; I must go. I'll be leaving you with Admiral Daedalus, who will bring you to where you will be placed." he said. Then he turned towards the Scizor and lowered his voice, "Once you give them to Madame Nicole, hand her their slave records. The slaves that are for my daughter are marked with a special mark in the upper corner." He explained before handing the admiral the stack of slave papers.

Daedalus nodded, "It will be done." He said. Plasmane nodded and walked away from them all. After the king was out of sight, Daedalus turned his attention towards Echo, "I know that the king told me you wouldn't run, but I can't take chances."

"U-u-understood." The small maid said as she held her hands out in front of her. The admiral nodded and kept one hand firmly gripped on the chain while the other grabbed one of the cuffs attached to his belt. He grabbed the metal cylinder and it became like a liquid as it floated out of his hand and enveloped Echo's hands. After the cuffs solidified, Daedalus proceeded to connect Echo to the chain the other slaves were on.

"Alright humans, let's move." Daedalus said, but before he began to walk, he felt the chain rattle and pull against him. He turned around and saw one of the slaves was acting up, it was Nate. He growled in annoyance upon seeing Nate was the one acting up. "Guard!" he shouted. A well armored Gijinka marched up to him, "Keep a firm hold on this." He instructed while handing him the chain, then he walked to where Nate was.

He was jerking around like a crazed animal, desperately trying to break free of his cuffs. He was muttered several curses, most of them directed towards the Gijinka, "Kill…" he snarled out, his voice completely different from the raw arrogance he was used to when Nate said something to him. Now it was raw and angry.

"Shut up." Daedalus said as he went to grab his throat in the hopes to shut him up, but before he got a chance Nate's head whipped towards Daedalus' hand and tried to bite him. he would've succeeded, if it not for Daedalus' armor.

His teeth clamped down on the metal with a harsh _clang_ , the wild look in Nate's eyesimmediately and was replaced by pain, "Oh Muk, that hurt like hell." He said as he moved his jaw around.

"What the Muk was that?" Daedalus asked, clearly angry with him.

"A slipup on my part, I didn't get a chance to do my morning meditation." He said.

Daedalus gave an unamused grunt, "Well that little slipup is going to make your punishment worse, but we'll handle that after we get the rest of you to Nicole." He said before marching away and getting the chain back and pulling on it, forcing the slaves to march forward.

As Nate marched, Nicolas looked over his shoulder at him, "What was that?" he asked.

Nate tilted his head down, almost in shame, "My wildside." He said softly, "The savagery of by previous life, I had to keep it locked away inside my mind and managed to do a good job once I became civilized, but then there was all the rage and aggression I felt when they took my family from me, it made it stronger."

From behind him, Khan listened to Nate's explanation, and anger began to burn in his eyes, "Him."

* * *

Daedalus lead the slaves for about ten minutes before they arrived at a door that led inside a section of the castle. He knocked on the door, "Madame Nicole, I have brought another batch for you."

"The door is unlocked," a somewhat muffled female voice said from inside, "and no need for such formalities, just call me Nikki." Daedalus sighed and put his hand on the door handle, but before he opened the door he turned towards the humans behind him.

"Madame Nicole is our Head Slave Supervisor, it's her job to assign the slaves to their jobs, each area have a Slave Supervisor that watches over all of you, if any of you act up. They report it to Nicole and she decides on your punishment." He explained, "But before she can assign you, she'll need to look through your mind to find what you're best suited for." He said.

"What is she?" Nate called out, "A Gardevior?" he had meant it as a joke, but no one laughed.

"No," Daedalus said, "A Jynx." He said before opening the door and leading the slaves inside.

* * *

As the human walked in, all of them were mentally preparing themselves. Jynx Gijinka were very rare, and they were far from good-looking. Sure some Gijinka weren't much to look at, but Jynx were an entirely different matter. They saw themselves as extremely beautiful, even though that usually wasn't the case at all.

The room was rather spacious, mostly likely meant to house several slaves. The Gijinka wasn't in the room, but there was an office door with a silhouette in the window. Daedalus lined the slave up side by side, "They're ready for you." he called out.

There was a bit of rustling and the door opened and the Jynx Gijinka stepped into view. When she did, just about every male slave's eyes just about popped out of their heads. The girls were shocked as well. Madame Nicole – or Nikki – was nothing like they expected…she was drop dead _gorgeous_.

She was slightly tall, and her body was very curvaceous with a decent sized bust, a thin waist and good hips giving her an excellent hourglass figure. Her skin was a clear flawless golden brown. Her long blond hair fell all the way to her hips and framed her very beautiful face. Her face was slightly heart-shaped, her eyes were catlike and were a mesmerizing purple color. But like most Jynx, the most attention grabbing part of her face was her lips. They were pink, full, big, slightly pouty and really just…kissable. She was wearing a red dress with gold trim around the bust that hugged her form in all the right places and long white gloves on her hands.

Nikki regarded their awestruck faces with a smile, "Close your mouths dearies. You are humans, not Magikarp. Besides, we don't want bugs flying into them," she said and the slaves quickly closed their open jaws.

Daedalus walked forward and held the hand holding the slave papers out to her, "Here are their records, the King's special requested slaves are marked with a special seal in the upper corner." He said.

Nikki accepted, "Always so serious Admiral," she said, "Very well, I will take it from here. You are dismissed." The admiral nodded and walked towards the entrance. "Admiral, have you forgotten to remove the humans' chains a cuffs?"

Daedalus looked over his shoulder, grinning, "Oh, I haven't forgotten. Just don't care." He said before opened the door and walking out, closing the door behind him.

Nikki sighed, "Oh that man." She muttered in a disapproving tone. Then she put a smile on her face and turned back to the slaves, "Now dearies, I apologize that you'll have to keep those cuffs and chains on. But unfortunately I'm not a Steel-type so I'm useless in that department." She said, "Now let's go through the papers and see who we have here." she said as she approached the first slave in the line, which was Echo.

"Well hello there darling," Nikki said in an almost motherly tone.

"H-h-hello." She said in a soft voice.

Nikki smiled, "Oh, aren't you the cutest little thing." She said, causing the girl's cheeks to flush, "Now…Echo Sinclair, it seems that you're one of the king's specially marked slaves." She said, "Well I'll still need to have a look into your mind." Echo's eyes widened and she almost seemed to be trembling. If Plasmane's eyesight could figure out her secret. Surely a Psychic-type would by looking through her mind, "Don't worry sweetheart, anything I see in there will be kept between the two of us, unless of course there's a plan of escape in there." She said, Echo smiled slightly at the Gijinka's attempt at humor.

"O-okay." She said.

Nikki gently placed a hand on top of her head and made sure her thumb rested on the center of her forehead. She closed her eyes and concentrated, after a few seconds she opened her eyes, "Hm, an interesting mind you have in that pretty little head." Nikki said, Echo knew that she had found out her secret, "Well, I think what the king has in mind for you will be perfect, I think you'll be able to resume being a good maid." She said.

Echo was relieved that Nikki didn't say anything, but then the panic returned when she felt Nikki's thumb slide her headscarf up. Was Nikki going to take it off and reveal her? She wanted to run, but she couldn't move, due to the chain and her fear. She closed her eyes not wanting to look.

But then her eyes shot open when she felt Nikki's lips gently touch her forehead. When Nikki stepped away Echo looked up in shock, "No reason to fear me Echo." She said very softly before she moved onto the next slave.

The slave was male and among the more shorter end of the spectrum when compared to the other male slaves. His build was rather blockish, broad shoulders, thick hips and a bit of the chubby side, but his body did seem to have some muscle to it. His skin was slightly tan with freckles all over his arms. He had thick curly blond hair and blue eyes that were behind a pair of old square-rimmed glasses that were in very bad condition. The slave didn't seem like much, but it did look like he had potential, "Be a dear and show me your mark."

The slave turned around, "The mark is on my left shoulder blade." He said. Nikki nodded and soon found the mark, she took note of the number and searched through her papers.

"Ah, here we go; Mason Kirkwood." She said, "Alright Mason, turn around and I'll just take a quick look through your mind." Mason didn't argue as he turned around. Like with Echo, Nikki place a hand on Mason's head and her thumb on the center of his forehead.

She removed her hand and looked him u an down, "I think the best use for you would be in the forge, that's where most of our metalworkers are and they could always use a few helping hands." She said before moving onto the next slave.

Windy glared at Nikki with a very cold eye, "I don't want your Gijinka hands on me." Windy said.

"Now that's no way to talk to the person in charge of where you'll be placed." Nikki said as if offended, "I could easily put you in a position that would make you very uncomfortable."

Windy narrowed her eye, "Then do it, there's nothing you can throw at me I can't handle."

"Fine, the sex life it is. The guards will be happy to know they're getting a human girl they can use." She said. Windy almost seemed to pale, that was not what she was expecting at all. "Oh, do you not like your position?" she asked. Windy shook her head, "Well, since you won't allow me to look into your mind. I have no choice but to put you in a random position." She said. "You may not like being a slave, but sometimes it's just easier to allow me to do my job."

Windy was speechless, this was not the Nikki she had seen behave a few minutes ago.

"Now, are you going to allow me to do my job?" Nikki asked, Windy nodded, "Good, now just let me look real quick." She said as she placed a hand on Windy's head. After a few seconds she removed it, "Windy Larson, I can see why you hate the Gijinka, and it's understandable. But you should be happy to know that I'll be assigning you to the Barn area, you'll be working in the stables and the livestock." She said, "A word of advice, try to keep your disdain towards the Gijinka to yourself. If I were like most of the guards here, you'd already be dead." She said.

Windy nodded, "Yes Madame." She said, Nikki nodded and moved on to the next slave, which was another female.

The girl was of average height, her build was medium, but still she swayed to the more slim side. From her tan lines you could tell her skin wasn't always the same tan it was now. There were also scars all over her body, with four very noticeable scars on her face; one over her right eye, one on the left side of her chin, one on the right cheek going down, and a small one on her left temple. Her choppy brown hair brushed her shoulders and her bangs nearly obscured her brown eyes.

Nikki looked the slave over, "Hm, what's your name?"

"Riet Freedman." She said simply, yet there was something about her voice that clearly said she was proud of her name. Nikki looked through the papers.

"Your papers say that you have a tendency to be a little rebellious." She said, "Let's double check their authenticity." She said before putting a hand on her head, "Looks like I'll have to tell your supervisor to keep a close eye on you." she said, "Unfortunately, most of your skills are perfect for plantation or field workers, but we don't have any plantations or fields up here." she said, "Perhaps you can help our good friend Windy here in the Barn area." She said before moving on to the next slave in the line.

This slave was the youngest and the smallest in the group. He had a very small frame with skinny limbs. He didn't really have any muscle on him and looked to be just skin and bones. His skin was incredible pale and there were several scratch scars on his legs. His hair was dark brown and short and stayed out of his face, his eyes were a sea green, but also looked to have a very nervous look to him.

Nikki looked the small slave over, then he placed a hand on his head. The boy flinched at the contact, something Nikki toke note us and began to look through his mind. What she saw made her flinch and she retracted her hand, "Well…Broehain, I think you'll fit in best with Windy and Riet." She said, her tone of voice almost made it seem like she was close to tears, but she cleared her throat and moved on to the next slaves in line.

Nikki looked at Celia and Faye, then she looked through her papers, "Well, it looks like you two will be joining Echo as the king's specially marked slaves. You two are the remaining female slaves and the last two female slaves according to these papers are marked with the king's seal." She said, then she put a hand on each of their heads, "Let's see which one of you is which." She said before closing her eyes.

Nikki smile as she removed her hands and opened her eyes, "Well, Plasmane sure picked good with you two." She said before looking at Celia, "It looks like you have the makings to become a personal assistant Celia." She said before turning to Faye, "And it is always interesting to see a slave of the sex trade, reminds me of when I was young and crazy." She said with a laugh as she patted both girls on the head.

She moved on to the next slave, which was another male. He was one of the taller males, his olive-toned body was skinny, but muscular. It was marked with simple scars, but the most noticeable ones were a three inch scar on his right forearm, a burn mark on his left Palm, and three slashes on his left cheek. His spiky hair was jet black with blue highlights and reach down to his neck. His eyes were a dark crimson red and held a somewhat impulsive feel to them.

"Let's see your brand." Nikki said, the male turned so show the brand that was on his right shoulder. She read the number and quickly found his records in the remaining papers she had, "Hm, so your name is Nexal. Not surprising, but always interesting to see a slave of your age with no last name." she remarked, "But I'm sure you'll find one for yourself in the near future." She said, "Now let me just look into your- My eyes are up here honey." She said and Nexel quickly looked up seeing he'd been caught looking at Nikki's bust. She only giggle and placed her hand on his head to look through his mind. After a second she removed her hand, "Well Nexel, your thoughts can certainly make a girl blush." She commented, causing the male's cheeks to turn red, "I think you'd be very useful in the mines, and for future reference. It's polite to ask before peeking." She said before moving on to the next two slaves; Nicolas and Nate.

"Names?" Nikki asked.

"I'm Nate Xerna, and this is Nicolas Clave" Nate said tilting his head toward his brunette friend.

"Okay, let's start with our friend Nicolas." She said before putting her hand on his head and quickly looking through his mind. "Hm, I think a strong human like you would be quite useful in the mines along with Nexel." She said, "Though…maybe in the future youcan by my…personal slave." She said as she ran a hand down Nicolas' muscled arm.

Khan rolled his eyes when he saw Nicolas' expression at that possibility.

"Now, it's time for the Wild Jacket." She said, "I've heard quite a bit about you."

Nate's slightly arrogant smile appeared, "Oh so the ladies talk about me, that's flattering."

Nikki smiled slightly at his comment, "Not really, most people that talk about you are mourning and angry." She said. Nate's expression fell extremely quickly. "Now, let's look through that head of yours."

Nikki reached out for him, but Nate retracted slightly, "Before you do, I'm just warning you that you might not be able to handle what's in there."

Nikki rolled her eyes, "Honey, you clearly underestimate my psychic power. I've read the minds of hundreds of slaves, believe me when I say there's nothing in there I can't handle." She said. She then proceeded to put her hand on Nate's head before closing her eyes and beginning to look through his mind. As she looked, her facial feature began to twitch and her eyes became clenched shut. After a few more seconds she released her grip and took a step back, but she didn't say anything. She just began to move on.

"Aren't you going to give me my assignment?" Nate asked.

Nikki looked back at him, "Oh I would, but the King has requested that before you're placed. You are to be thoroughly punished." She said. Before continuing on to the final slave, which was Khan. "Hm, well this is a real sight to see. The White Bandanna recaptured, it is an honor to see the escaped slave in person."

Khan didn't say anything, he just stared into Nikki's eyes with a cold glare.

"Nothing to say?" Nikki asked, "I'm fine with that." She said before placing her hand on Khan's head, when she positioned her thumb to rest on his forehead, her thumb was pressing the center of Khan's slave brand. Nikki closed her eyes and began to look through Khan's mind.

Almost immediately after she started to look through Khan's mind Nikki released a cry of pain that startled everyone in the room, and they were shocked when Nikki staggered back a few step as her form had become surprisingly weak. As she regained her stance, the slaves noticed that she was breathing deep shuddery breaths and her eyes were wide with terror from what she just saw.

She took a minute before speaking again, "Well…Khan Kensaki, like Nate. The king has requested that you are to be punished before you are given your assignment." She said before looking at all the slaves, "All of you wait here while I get a Steel-type to release your cuffs." She said before walking out of the room. After the door closed behind her there was a click meaning that she had locked the door.

* * *

After the slaves heard Nikki's footsteps walk away, everyone turned towards Khan in stunned silence. Khan didn't even seem to look fazed by what just occurred.

Nate was the first to speak, "What was that?" he asked, he'd thought that he had had a mind that was hard to handle, given his wildside. But as far as he knew, Khan didn't have anything like that. So…what was in Khan's mind that was too much for Nikki to handle.

Khan looked at all of them then back to Nate, his expression neutral, "I told you, you have no idea when it means to be broken." He said, "But your punishment is drawing near, so I guess you're close to taking the first step."

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **And that's all for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. It looks like Khan is getting more and more interesting with every chapter.**

 **How we introduced several OCs in this chapter, which means we have a lot of authors to credit. I'd like to thank Vulkodlak for Mason Kirkwood, Another Generic Gamer for Riet Freedman, SCP -788 Entity for Broehain and Ultimate Shadow Master for Nexel. Hopefully I credited all of the new OCs in this chapter.**

 **I hope I portrayed your characters well, be sure to leave a review with any suggestions if I got anything wrong.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, be sure to leave a review telling me your thoughts on it.**

 **Hope to see you all next chapter, this is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Punishment**

 **WARNING: CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT WORTHY OF AN M RATING, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

Nikki had been walking down the hallway for a little bit, when she was sure that she was alone she stopped and leaned her back against the wall. She tried to get a hold over herself by focusing on her breathing, but her efforts were in vain as her hands came to her face as she let out a shuddering breath and she began to cry softly.

She hated this, every part of it; slavery, the need for slaves, the chains, and – most of all – the mind searching. It was an invasion of privacy, which was something she was fine with, but what really made her hate it was what she finds. She doesn't just see the slaves' thoughts and intentions, she sees their memories, their experiences, and the feelings that came with them. And to see and feel how much they've suffered…it was sometimes too much for her. So after reading the minds she would dismiss herself for an effective reason, and then take a small delay to have an emotional release.

Normally she has a little more control over herself, but those last two...Nikki tried not to think about it as she wiped her tears away with her gloved fingers, thankful for the fact that her makeup wasn't at all affected. She took in a deep breath and regained her composure, she needed a guard.

She saw a flash of armor out of the corner of her eye, "Guard!" she called out as she went in the guard's direction.

* * *

Nate wanted to roll his eyes, "That wasn't what I meant, and what is it with you and being broken? And what do you mean by first step?" he asked.

Khan gave a somewhat amused scoff, but he didn't smile, "You'll find out soon enough. I'm sure the Gijinka have been waiting to teach a lesson to the Wild Jacket, the human that's never been a slave and has a nasty habit of making the Gijinka look like fools."

"You're one to talk." Nexel said from further down the line. "You made them look like fools by avoiding them for seven years."

Khan craned his head to look at Nexel, "Seven? I thought it was four…well I guess you have an even greater point then." He said, "The Wild Bandanna, first slave to escape from the Gijinka's clutches, and continued to avoid them despite the obvious brand in the center of my forehead. Oh they're going to have fun torturing me, no doubt about that."

Nate raised an eyebrow, "Didn't know that you and fun could be used in the same sentence together." He said making a little joke, but only Nexel and Nicolas snickered. Nate smiled knowing that he was he had two slave brothers that warmed up to him.

Khan rolled his eyes, "I wonder if the Gijinka will allow me a chance to torture you some."

"Oh Muk off," Nicolas said, "What has Nate ever done to you?"

Khan didn't respond, instead something flashed in his eyes. If was very brief, almost unnoticeable, but something flashed in Khan's eyes before they hardened and became cold once again. He opened his mouth to say something when the there was a small rattling noise and the door opened.

Nikki walked through with a Skarmory Gijinka guard behind her, "Okay, I need you to change to release them from their cuffs." She said.

The Skarmory nodded, "You aren't worried they'll try to escape?"

Nikki shook her head, "Escape would be very difficult, this castle is the most well-guarded place on PokéEarth, and even if they were to get past the guards, Mt. Coronet's weather would be too much for them to handle." Nikki explained, then she turned to the slaves, "It doesn't take a mind reader to know that you slaves think you can handle the weather. So allow me to give you an example, a slave in the prime of his life and in much better shape than all of you thought he could handle it. He managed to get past all the guards and started to make his way down the mountain." She said, "His frozen corpse was found the next day."

"We could still handle it if it meant freedom." Riet said.

Nikki turned towards Riet, "Well bad weather wouldn't be the only thing you'd face. Keep that in mind." She said, "Now, let's get these cuffs off them."

"Great," Nate said, "beause I didn't want to bring this up, but my nose has been bugging me for quite some time now and-"

Nikki interrupted, "Well, I'm afraid you're not going to be free of your cuffs just yet. Remember you still need to be punished."

"Well, if you're the one that's going to punish me then perhaps it will be enjoyable." Nate remarked while wiggling his eyebrows. Nikki only rolled her eyes.

* * *

Within around twenty minutes, all the saves, save for Khan and Nate, were free of their cuffs and more guards were found in order to escort the slaves to their new stations.

* * *

Nikki was holding onto the chain holding Khan and Nate's cuffs and leading them to where they would be punished. The walk so far had been silent and rather awkward.

Khan looked at Nate briefly and took note of his expression, "You seem awfully calm for someone who's about to receive their first punishment." He said while turning his attention forward.

"Oh believe me, I'm absolutely terrified," Nate said. "though I'm probably one of the few humans in this world that can look fear in the eye and just keep going."

Khan couldn't believe what he was hearing, exactly how arrogant was this guy? "You seriously think you're one of the only humans that can look fear in the eye and keep going?" he asked, "What else do you think, that you're the center of the universe and that everything revolves around you?"

Nate looked at Khan, "Of course not, why would I-"

"Because you're just so arrogant," Khan said, "Every human on this earth has learned to look fear in the eye and move on. Humans are enslaved by creatures that could easily kill us with one move if they chose to, and no human wants to be on the receiving end of that move."

"Okay, I get it." Nate said, "Humans learn to hide their fear."

Khan shook his head, "It goes deeper than that. Fear shows weakness and weakness warrants punishment. Nobody wants a weak servant so they whip them into shape to toughen them up, sometimes literally." Khan turned towards Nate, "You want me and the other slaves to accept that you're one of us and that you've suffered as much as us? Then stop putting yourself on a pedestal and stop acting like a Gijinka."

Nate glared at Khan, "You're one to talk about pedestals, _White Bandana_." He sneered, "You escaped the bonds of slavery, avoided getting captured for seven years, and get caught again. Only to what, tell the other slaves that there's no chance of escaping?" He said, Nate was just spouting whatever came to his mind at this point, but he didn't care. He was sick of Khan's constant attitude towards him, "Do you want to be the only one that has been out of bondage while the others suffer while you just strut around with that title wrapped around your head that silently bragging to everyone else?" Khan wasn't responding, "And what about the slaves you were with before you escaped, just leaving them behind? Did you leave your family behind as well?"

Something in Khan seemed to snap, Khan whipped his head toward Nate, " **RAH!** " he roared before lunging at him. Nate was caught off guard as Khan tackled him to the ground and started pressing the cuffs that bound his hands against Nate's throat. Khan's eyes were burning with rage, nothing like Nate had ever seen before. He tried his best to push Khan off him, but he kept pushing against his neck. But Khan chocking him wasn't the only thing that he was feeling, he tried to repress it, but he couldn't fight them both.

Khan was holding nothing back as he pressed down, but Nate's struggling began to change as Nate's eyes turned wild and began to bear his teeth and snarl. Nate's wildside was showing itself and it looked pissed, but Khan didn't to appear at all fazed. The savage Nate pushed against Khan with more strength then before and managed to get Khan off him and turned the tables by trying to get on top of Khan, his teeth eager to sink into Khan's flesh, but Khan caught Nate off guard by kicking him in the chest and sending him back and landing on the floor. Nate got to his feet and so did Khan, each one glaring at the other. Each one leapt at the other, but they suddenly stopped in midair as their bodies were surrounded by a pinkish-purple aura.

Nate and Khan averted their gaze towards Nikki, who had her arms raised with the same aura surrounding her hands, "I had hoped that you two wouldn't cause any trouble and that I wouldn't have to do this." She said, then she sighed, "Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way." She said, she began to move her fingers and Khan and Nate's bodies were forced into the pencil position with their arms bound to their sides.

Nate, still in his wild state, seemed to be resisting the most even though his efforts were in vain. Nikki saw his resistance as a sign that he should be handled first. Nikki walked over to Nate, the closer she got the more Nate tried to snap at her before Nikki closed Nate's mouth with her psychic powers. Nikki then proceeded to place her hands on either side of Nate's face, and then her lips began to glow as she forced the wild human into a kiss. The wild look in Nate's eyes seemed to leave and it was replaced with surprise and his face turned red. After his face went as red as a Cherri berry his eyes closed and he went unconscious. Nikki removed her lips from Nate's, a pink mark left on his face, and let his body fall limp, still levitating in the air.

Nikki then turned her attention towards Khan and started to move towards him, her lips still glowing,"I realize you're the more well-behaved one, but since you started that little brawl I can't take chances." She said as she put her hands on Khan's cheeks, "So you might want to pucker up and enjoy it, I don't do this very often." She said before her lips made contact with Khan's.

Nikki's lips were soft and warm, and the sensation the kiss gave Khan was almost mind blowing. He felt heat rush to every part of his body, the sensation was almost too much for him to handle and his vision began to fade and dim and he lost consciousness.

* * *

Nate had no idea what just happened, first he was arguing with Khan, then Khan went beserk, then he felt his wild side take over, then the next thing he knew was that he was making out with Nikki before passing out…a very bizarre turn of events.; though he did learn two things. One: Jynx were incredible kissers, who would've thought? And two: Khan certainly had a bit of a dark side, a dark side that was triggered when he mentioned his family…something to take note of for a later conversation.

* * *

Anyway, when Nate came to; he saw that he was in a different part of the castle. Well, all he could make out were the dark grey walls and what could possibly be the outline of a door as his vision was still coming into focus. He saw something that stood out from the dark grey walls and focused on that as his vision was no longer fuzzy. When Nate could clearly see what he was looking at, he swung his fist and it connected with a face – which was when he realized that he was no longer cuffed. When he saw someone on the ground with their hood down and a mop of white hair that hung to their shoulders, it took a minute for him to realize that he had punched someone.

"Oh man, I am so sorry." Nate said rushing over to the Gijinka's side, kneeling and helping them to their feet, "I did not mean to do that I swear, you were just really close and-" Nate suddenly went silent when the Gijinka turned to look at him and he felt himself pale because of what he was looking at.

What was in front of him was a Gijinka unlike any he had ever seen, most he had seen looked fine. The Gijinka in front of him was just plain demonic. The Gijinka looked a little like they were the same age as Nate, if not a few years older, but because of the loose patched grey robes they were wearing, Nate couldn't tell if the Gijinka was male or female. The Gijinka's skin was deathly pale and marked by scars that appeared to have been horrible stitching jobs, their large wide eyes were a dark pink color and bloodshot giving them a very unsettling gaze, but the freakiest part about them was the Gijinka's mouth. The mouth was lipless, and instead or lips, they had a cruel looking zipper, and the skin that surrounded the zipper looked like burnt scar tissue.

The Gijinka took note of Nate's reaction and the zipper curled into what could've been a smile, but the skin fused to the zipper stretched in a way that made it seem like it wasn't meant for smiling when closed. The Gijinka seemed to realize this, because it lifted a hand and grabbed the zipper tag at the left corner of its mouth and slowly dragged it across allowing the zipper to part and reveal the Gijinka's real smile. The smile was somewhat manic, the Gijinka's teeth looked pretty normal, but they were yellow tinted and the gums looked swollen and were bleeding in some places. Nate was beginning to feel sick, that was not a mouth he would want to make out with.

Nate tried to keep a straight face, but internally he was screaming bloody murder, "Um, not sure if this is a good time to ask this, but have you ever heard of dental hygiene?" he asked, the Gijinka's smile dropped, but its mouth remained open.

The Gijinka ran a dark purple tongue across their teeth, smearing the blood that was leaking from their gums across their teeth, Nate felt queasy and once again swallowed back the need to throw up, "I have, unfortunately I don't get access to it very often." The Gijinka said.

"Oh, so you're female." Nate said, when the Gijinka raised an eyebrow he knew he had to explain yourself, "Well those robes you're wearing make it difficult to know what gender you are, so when I heard your voice it was a little easier." He explained.

She nodded, "So they told me that you're a new slave named Nate and that I'm to deliver your first punishment. They also told me that you're known as the Wild Jacket." She said, she then began to run her hand across Nate's brown leather coat, "I like jackets, they're warm, they're sleek and best of all, they have lots and lots…" she said her smile coming back, "of _zippers_." She said, putting an almost sensual emphasis on the last word.

Nate was beginning to show that he was nervous, "So…you like zippers?" he asked.

The Gijinka giggled and lightly pushed him to that he landed on his rear, "Of course I do, I'm Kali the Banette after all." She said, she then began to get really close to Nate. "When they told me I was getting another slave to punish, they didn't say he was going to be cute for a human." She said as she straddled Nate's hips and sat on his lap.

"Um, isn't this supposed to be a torture session." Nate said, feeling extremely uncomfortable. He was desperate to get this Gijinka back on track.

Kali nodded, "Yes, but what I have in mind now is far different than what I was thinking before." She said as she leaned forward. Nate turned his head to the side expecting what Kali was planning. Kali stopped, but then proceeded to continue leaning as her tongue snaked out of her mouth and gave Nate's cheek a nice long lick.

Nate shuddered at the feeling of Kali's cold tongue against his skin, he felt the bile rising in his throat and forced it down. He knew he had to do something when he felt Kali start grinding on him, "Stop, no!" he shouted. The outburst caused Kali to stop and lean away from him.

"What?" she asked, "you don't like it?" she asked. Nate wanted to answer, he just didn't know how to put it. Kali's expression fell and her eyes grew moist, "I knew this would happen, no one ever wants a demon like me." she said as black tears began to flow down her pale cheeks.

Nate tried not to look freaked out by the fact that her tears were Muk-ing _black_ , "No, it's not that." He said, "I'm sorry, I just cant. Don't get me wrong you're a…beautiful woman," Nate said nearly forcing the words out, "and any guy would be lucky to have you, it's just…I'm in love with someone else."

Kali sniffed and wiped away her tears, "You…you think I'm beautiful?" she asked.

Nate realized that saying beautiful may not have been the best thing to say, "Well…" he said looking over her scars, bloodshot eyes and demented zipper she had for a mouth, "You have, your own kind of charm, but like I said-" Nate didn't get to finish his sentence as he was shoved to the floor and Kali was shoving her tongue into his mouth.

* * *

 **A.N. GRAPHIC M-RATED SCENE AHEAD, IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE YOU CAN HANDLE IT, FEEL FREE TO SKIP.**

* * *

Nate's eyes widened at the sudden lip-rape, Kali's zipper lips were rubbing and scratching his and were being very rough as her cold tongue explored the inside of his mouth, and she tasted very metallic, which wasn't surprising. Nate remembered that he was no longer cuffed so he used his hands to push Kali off of him. Nate was able to stop the make out session and pry Kali's face away from his. Nate's lips were slightly scratched up, red and perhaps swollen. Kali was panting, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth with a happy expression on her face.

She looked down at Nate, still panting, "Someone's a little handsy." She said, Nate was confused by what she meant, but then he realized his hands were on her breasts.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to grab them." Nate said as he began to remove his hands, but Kali placed her hands on top of his and forced them to grope her breasts, as she did this she began to let out soft moans and began to grind on Nate again.

Nate couldn't believe this was happening, but he decided to just go with it hoping it'd be over soon. Nate tried to close his eyes and picture someone other than Kali, but he didn't get the chance because his eyes were forced open when a pair of hands grabbed the sides of his head and pulled up. Nate saw that Kali was looking deep into his eyes.

"You said I was beautiful, so I want you to see every part of my body and don't want you to miss a second of this experience." She said. Her smile was so big that the skin attached to her zipper mouth looked like it was going to rip. "Kiss me again." She said before she tugged Nate's face towards hers and began to make out with him and began to grind harder. After Nate had his mouth invaded yet again by Kali's tongue, she pulled away. This time, her zipper had managed to cut Nate's bottom lip and it was bleeding a bit.

* * *

 _Great, I got a busted lip and a broken nose._ Nate thought to himself, then something occurred to him, _I need to remember to set my nose after this is done._

* * *

Nate no longer felt Kali grinding on him. Nate looked to see that Kali was beginning to pull off her grey robes. As she did so, Nate noticed that she wasn't wearing anything underneath her robe. She pulled it fully off and tossed it to the side giving Nate a full view of her naked body. Nate never would've guessed it, but she had some pretty good curves. But it was a little hard to admire them because her body was just as scarred as her face, almost every part of her body had a nasty stitch scar. This girl seriously needed to see a different doctor.

Kali grinned when she saw Nate looking at her body, "Like what you see?" she asked, she then giggled and pressed herself against Nate and whispered into his ear, "Every scar was once a zipper."

Nate felt the blood leave his face as he processed what Kali just told him, Kali got off Nate and her eyes began to glow pink and she crawled backwards. Nate was wondering was she was doing, but she he saw his pants and underwear were beginning to slip off his body, she was using Psychic to strip him.

By the time Nate was stripped naked from the waist down, Kali's head was above Nate's hardened crotch. She looked at Nate and gave him a seductive grin as she wrapped a hand around his length in a tight grip that caused Nate to gasp in pain. She then lowered her head and took his member in her mouth with her tongue licking and wrapping around it.

Nate wasn't sure what he should be feeling right now, because Kali actually wasn't all that bad when it came to using her mouth and tongue, it was just the fact that he had a zipper wrapped tightly around his cock that kept going up and down. It was scraping and scratching the sides of it, he didn't know if it was painful or arousing.

Nate was groaning as Kali continued, "Stop, stop!" Nate said, Kali stopped and removed Nate's member from her mouth.

"What is it?" she asked as she got onto her hands and knees.

Nate was panting, "It's just…so far you are doing everything. Don't you think I should do something? You know, to make _you_ feel good?" he asked.

Kali seemed to think it over, but then she smiled and let out a giggle, "I don't think so." She said. Then her pink eyes turned purple and her pupils were replaced with flames, " _Imprison!_ " she said, her voice was overlapping with a different voice.

The area next to Nate suddenly lit on fire with a light blue-purple flame with a flaming chain slithering out of it. The chain then wrapped around one of Nate's wrist, "Agh!" Nate shouted, the chain may have been on fire, but it was extremely cold. The chain jerked and pulled Nate's arm until it was straight. Nate tried to use his other hand to free his bound arm, but another part of the floor on the opposite side caught on fire and another chain wrapped around that arm and bound it as well. Nate tried to move his arms, but they just couldn't move.

Kali stood up, as she stood, the chains raised hoisting Nate into the air so that he was on his feet, "There," Kali said, "That should do it." she said.

Nate looked at Kali, then without warning he swung his leg in an attempt to kick her, but when his foot mad contact. He just went right through her, as if she wasn't even there at all, "What the…"

"We'll be having none of that, " Kali said, "You said that you wanted to make me feel good, but I'm already feeling good. So what would be the point? Plus, you did punch me before, how do I know you won't do it again if I let you took control?"

"I said I was sorry." Nate said.

Kali smiled, "I know, but don't worry we will get to the main event." she said, "I thought I'd torture you as we work our way to the main event."

Nate was silent. Did she mean what he just went through _wasn't_ the torture?

"Tell me something Nate, have you ever heard of…Mega Evolution?" she asked. Nate nodded, "Have you ever seen it?" Nate nodded again, causing Kali to pout, "Aw, and here I thought I was going to be your first for _something_." She said, "Oh well, this'll be fun anyway." She said, then her scars began to glow white while the rest of her body turned pink.

It got so bright that Nate needed to clench his eyes shut so he wouldn't go blind. When the glow faded he opened them, but when he saw Kali's new form he wished he could close his eyes again. Kali's hair was like it was underwater with it floating all around your head, her eyes were just flames burning in her eye sockets, her skin was now a pale purple color, each of her fingers had become a long and large pink claw, and every single one of her scars had become a golden zipper, giving Nate a clear view as to just how many scars she had.

Kali's manic smile came to her face, "Now the fun begins." She said, then the sliders on every single zipper on her body began to slowly go down causing the zipper to open, revealing a black void behind them, then out of each void slithered out a tendril of blood red energy, the energy coming out combined with the others to make thicker ropes of energy, "Tell me, do you have a bondage fetish?" she asked before two of the ropes shot forward and wrapped around Nate's neck, not tight enough to choke, but definitely tight enough for him to feel it.

"No, I don't have a bondage fetish." Nate said rolling his eyes, but that only made Kali tighten the energy around his neck, briefly choking him and causing him to cough. "But hey, maybe I'll grow to like it." He wheezed out.

Kali giggled, "Well I hope not, remember this is for your torture and my pleasure." She said, then the ends of some of the ropes became barbed points. Then, with lightning speed, the barbed ones embedded themselves into different parts of Nate's body. The energy was just as cold as the chains, if not colder. The pain of the barbs entering Nate's skin didn't hurt all that much, but after a few seconds Nate threw his head back from pain because his entire body felt like it was on fire.

Nate's eyes widened and he clenched his teeth because he didn't want to scream. The more it continued the more he clenched his body, he wanted to just go inside his mind and just stockpile this pain, but every time he tried, a new wave of pain rushed through his body breaking his focus. Kali then grabbed the back of Nate's head and forced his head to look down at her.

"Time for the main event," She said as she her hand started to trail down her body, Nate's gaze followed her hand, then he noticed something. He wanted to ask, but the pain made it difficult to form the words. She seemed to catch wind of Nate's thought process, "Yep that's right, my mouth is the only hole in my body with a zipper for lips." She said. Kali's hand reached the area between her legs and her body visibly shuddered as a slow zipping sound was heard. Nate was sure that if he weren't in so much pain, he would've hurled right then and there.

Kali let out a moan, then she gave Nate what he guessed was a seductive look. Then she didn't say anything as she floated into the air and leaned forward until her mouth was right next to Nate's ear, "Let's find out if the 'Wild' part of your name applies to situations like this." She said as her energy ropes began to stroke and carress Nate's length, causing it to harden.

Upon hearing the word wild, Nate could feel his wild side trying to take over. Normally Nate would try to force it down, but he didn't. Whether because of the pain or because it might actually stand a chance against this bitch he didn't know for sure.

Nate's pain filled eyes turned wild and full of anger, "Kill!" the wild human snarled looking around and getting adjusted to his surrounding, though when the savage Nate's gaze fell on Kali, he seemed to freeze. "…Shit."

The wild look in his eyes left and Nate found himself in control again. Did Kali just frighten his wildside back into his body?... He had no idea whether or not that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Hm, for a second there I thought this would be more fun," Kali said, "I do like it rough and wild after all." She said, adding a playful growl. "But oh well, let's get on with it." she said before placed her entrance right above Nate's length before sheathing Nate into her in a single thrust.

Kali gasped as she got used to the feeling of Nate inside her, but after a few seconds she started to ride him, gradually increasing her speed. Nate was groaning, but not from pleasure. It felt that Kali was trying to skin him with every thrust because of that zipper constantly going up and down. It was like when she was giving him a blowjob, only it was much tighter.

Kali wrapped her legs and arms around Nate and used them to push him deep into her with each thrust, she was moaning and panting as she rode him harder. Nate's teeth clenched as he felt Kali's claws digging into his back, he let out a slight cry in pain when Kali bit his shoulder.

Kali lifted her head and looked Nate in the eyes, "I'm getting close, are you?" she asked, when Nate didn't answer she narrowed her eyes as the flames that were her eyes turned purple. "I'm sure you'll find that you're much closer than you think." She growled out. After saying those words the red roped of energy wrapped around his neck tightened so much that Nate couldn't breathe at all. Then all the barbed ropes lodged in Nate darkened and the it felt like hundreds of red hot needles were stabbing his insides while hundreds of ice cold needles were stabbing his skin.

After a few seconds the energy around his neck loosened slightly and Nate could breathe again, "H-how…is that…supposed…to help?" Nate gasped out.

Kali grinned wildly, "It isn't, just a bit of fun." She said, "But if you really want the help…" she said, then she breathed in deep before breathing out a pink mist right into Nate's face.

Nate coughed when he breathed the mist in through his mouth and his nose tingled when he breathed it in through his nose, "What the Muk was that?" he asked, but it was just then when Nate moaned when his body felt extremely hot and horny and his eyes glazed over in lust.

When Kali saw Nate's lust filled eyes, her grin only got wider as she increased her speed, Nate's hips seemed to be moving on their own because they began to meet her thrusts with his own, causing Kali to moan even louder. Nate's hips slammed against Kali's for another minute or two before Nate felt the heat inside his body grow more intense. Then he couldn't hold it back any more so he thrust into her one last time before releasing.

Kali moaned loudly when she felt Nate shoot his seed deep inside her, which triggered her going over the edge as she clamped tightly around him and came. After both of them were done, they were breathing heaving. Kali seemed to recover first because she floated off of Nate and landed on her feet, she then reached down between her legs and zipped her entrance closed. Then she closed her eyes and the red energy began to be sucked back into her body and her body glowed briefly, when the glow faded, she was back to her regular form.

* * *

 **A.N. GRAPHIC M-RATED SCENE OVER**

* * *

As Kali was putting her grey robe back on, she heard Nate's voice, "Is…is that…the best you got?"

Kali paused in what she was doing, then she pointed a finger up into the air and the chains holding Nate glowed purple and Nate's body tensed up again and he gasped for air as he felt something inside his body get sucked out of him. His eyes were wide and several images began to flash through his mind, each one worse than the one before it. He saw mangled bodies, blood on his hands, his parents in chains…then the body of a dead girl with long brown hair.

It was too much and Nate let out a cry of anguish and grief.

It was only when Kali lowered her finger that it stopped and Nate's body felt weak. His breaths were shuddering and his eyes were stinging. Kali's back was still turned to him, but she waved a hand and the chains turned into dust, Nate fell and grunted loudly as his body hit the floor. Nate tried to find a part of his body that wasn't in pain, he failed.

Nate felt a hand under his chin and his head was tilted up, forcing him to look at Kali's scarred face, "No, that's not the best I can do, and it's certainly not the worst I can do either. I'd be glad to show you, but it looks like our session is over," Kali said, "I'm going to get the guards, who will transport you to your next punishment." She said, "Though I hope you'll get into trouble more often, that way we can see more of each other." She said winking at him before releasing his chin and walking towards the door. When she left the room and closed the door, the sound echoed all throughout the room leaving Nate alone and in pain.

Nate was breathing heavily, but he summoned his strength and pushed himself up and onto his hands and knees, then from there he got to his feet. His legs were wobbly, but he was standing, "Ugh, I thought that would never end. I'm so going to need a bath." He said as the thoughts of what he just went through came back to his mind. His stomach churned and he felt a foul taste enter his mouth, "Oh Muk." He said before he leaned forward and hurled.

* * *

Nate was just finishing putting his pants back on when the door opened and Daedalus walked in while flanked by two guards, "Alright Wild Jacket, time to go." He said.

"Took you long enough," Nate said as he walked over to the Admiral.

Daedalus didn't answer, he just made a gesture with his hand and the two guards walked over to Nate and grabbed his arms tightly, causing him to wince, "Still a little sore from your encounter?" Daedalus asked.

Nate forced himself to let out a laugh, "Ha! Oh please, just like any other girl I've been with. That was nothing, don't think I haven't been raped before. Next time use someone who knows what they're doing. . Sure she was tight, but that will only get you so far, she probably fell unconscious after giving you her report."

Nate couldn't see it, but he was sure that Daedalus was raising an eyebrow, "She raped you? That wasn't what I was expecting. She only told us that she did her job, and she didn't even seem winded by it."

Nate's smirk fell, "What?"

Daedalus nodded, "Her instructions were to torture you, we didn't care how and we didn't ask for details." He said, "Well then since you seem to still be in good condition, maybe you'd like to go another round with her. I'm sure if we brought her back here-"

Fear surged through Nate's body, "NO!" he shouted.

Daedalus smirked, "Not so arrogant now, are we?" he asked calmly. Nate wanted to take back his outburst, but now he knew acting tough wouldn't help him now. "We're wasting time, c'mon men let's go." He said before he turned around and started walking out of the room. The two guards holding Nate marched after him, dragging Nate along with them.

Nate quickly recovered his footing and started walking the same pace as the guards, "Well, could you tell me how I'll be tortured next?" Nate asked.

"All I can tell you is that we're just bringing you to where your fellow slave the White Bandanna is." Daedalus said, "Now one more word and I'll send word for Miss Kali to come back telling her that you're wanting more." Nate made an effort to keep quiet.

* * *

Nate was sure how long they had been walking, but he knew they were getting close when he heard muffled angry noises. Daedalus stopped in front of the door where the sounds were coming from and unlocked the door before opening it, "Bring him inside." He instructed before he walked away.

* * *

When the guards brought Nate in, the first thing he noticed was Khan chained up in an interesting rig. His body was suspended in the air in a large metal ring; his arms and leg were shackled to the edges of the ring in metal cuffs, making his body look slightly like a star. As Nate got closer, he could tell that Khan didn't look too good. There were wounds on various places on his body, each of them bleeding, he had a black eye so bad the eye was swollen shut, there was blood coming from the corner of her mouth, his nose was bleeding, and his hair was matted and his body was glistening from sweat. There were a couple Gijinka surrounding him, and they didn't look happy.

"Scream damn you, scream!" one of the Gijinka – a Heliolisk – shouted before his hand became coated in electricity and grabbed the metal ring.

There was the sound of crackling electricity and Khan's body clenched and he grunted, his expression was clenched as he tried desperately to hold back any sounds of pain. The sweat on his body sizzled as the electricity ran through his body. After ten seconds the Heliolisk released the ring. Khan's body relaxed, he exhaled loudly and was breathing heavily.

"Hey," one of the guards holding Nate said, "we got another one for you."

The Heliolisk looked over at Nate, "Ah, the Wild Jacket. I take it he enjoyed his twenty minutes with Miss Kali?"

Nate was stunned, "That was only twenty minutes?" he asked. Man…he really needed to work on his stamina.

The Gijinka nodded, "Yeah, you were unconscious for four hours before you woke up. The White Bandanna however, was only unconscious for one. We've been having fun with him ever since, if only he'd just scream." He said before his hand once hand became cloaked with electricity. This time, instead of grabbing the metal like before, he punched Khan right in the stomach. Khan only groaned and wheezed as all the air was force out of his lungs, the Heliolisk growled in annoyance, "Alright, get some embers ready." He commanded one of the other Gijinka, "as for him," he said turning to Nate, "Put him in a box…then drown him."

The guards started to drag Nate to a different part of the room, "Okay, when I said I needed a bath, this wasn't what I had in mind." Nate said.

"Oh shut up." One of the Guards said as they tossed Nate into a hole that was in the ground, as he was on the ground, they closed the entrance to the hole, putting Nate in darkness.

"I thought you were supposed to be drowning me?" Nate shouted out, almost as if responding to his words. There was a clicking sound, which was then flowed by the sound of rushing water and Nate was hit by powerful streams of water from all sides and the hole was quickly filling up, "Oh shit." He said as the water had already gotten past his knees and was continuing to rise.

Nate raised his arms so that his hands were pressed against the ceiling and tried to push it open, it didn't budge. When the water reached his stomach he tried pounding on it, he heard a slight rattle, but nothing. He summoned any strength he had and pounded on the ceiling as the water reached his neck. He knew there was no chance he was going to get it open before the water completely filled the hole so he just took as big of a breath as he could as the water covered his head.

The box was completely filled with water leaving no oxygen. It was dark and Nate did know what to do, so he just kept pounding on the ceiling, hoping that it would budge. But the water slowed his movements making his actions weaker than they were before.

He felt a tightening feeling in his chest, he knew he needed to exhale, but he ignored the urge and kept pounding on the door. Then he paused when heard a paused noise, it could tell what it what, may. be it was them unlocking the ceiling. Those hope were dashed when the water was suddenly filled with electricity.

The sudden shocked caused Nate to gasp and force all the oxygen he had in his lungs out of his mouth, Nate's hands went to his throat, which felt like it was being turned inside out. He was now beginning to freak out. Soon the feeling became too much and he had to inhale.

Water flooded Nate's lungs and it was then that he began to freak out, for a few seconds Nate was flailing his arms. After a while his arms slowly stopped flailing and even though it was pitch black, Nate could tell that his vision was fading.

Just when he was about to fade completely, he saw a light and felt a hand grab the collar of his jacket and quickly pull him out of the water. The Gijinka that had pulled him out of the water dropped him onto his back.

The impact caused Nate's eyes, then his chest began to ache and he felt like he was about to choke something back out. Nate rolled onto his stomach and used his hands to push himself up, then he gagged and before Nate knew it he was puking up water, and it was painful.

His lungs burned as he coughed up more water, and he continued to cough even after the water stopped coming out. After the coughing ended, his throat felt raw, "Well, I got my bath. I just would've preferred if my clothes were off." He muttered to himself, his throat giving his voice a slight croak to it. "Anybody got a towel?" he called out. His response was getting shocked by some electricity from the Heliolisk. His body felt numb as he struggled to keep himself up. It was then that he noticed the smell, "Ugh, what is that smell. Oh Muk I'm going to hurl."

The Heliolisk laughed, "Lift him up so he can see." He commanded and the same guards that brought Nate in lifted him up and onto his feet. Nate looked and saw Khan had several glowing embers on his back, the horrible smell was his flesh burning. Khan's face was clenched in pain and sweat was dripping from his face. "Alright, add one more ember, then I think you know what to do."

The Gijinka who was dropping the embers – a Magmar – nodded and he waved his hand and a large ember appeared in his hand before his dropped it onto Khan's back, there was a sizzling sound and Khan grunted, then the Magmar went onto the was wall and picked up a plank that was hanging on a rack. When he returned to Khan, he smirked and raised the plank over his head, "Let's see you hold back a scream after this." She said before bringing the plank down and slamming it down on the embers, causing them to go deeper into his back.

Khan's eyes shot open and he couldn't stop himself from screaming in pain, the scream was very loud, probably loud enough for everyone in this part of the castle to hear. Nate cringed at the sound of Khan's pain, even after the screaming ended, it was quiet enough to hear the echoes of his scream resonate throughout the halls outside the room.

Everyone in the room was silent, even the torturers seemed to be stunned. The Heliolisk was the one to break the silence, "That's enough for now, it's late and we need to report our progress to Admiral Daedalus and King Plasmane." He said, somewhat awkwardly actually. "Put them in a cage."

* * *

It didn't take very long for them to but Khan and Nate into one of the cages in the the Gijinka were walking away, Nate could hear them whispering to each other.

"Have you ever heard so much pain in a single scream before?" one of them asked.

"No." was the response.

* * *

After the Gijinka left the room, Nate turned to look at Khan. To see that Khan was looking at him, "When was the last time that you screamed?" Nate asked, he knew that there was more than just the pains from the torturing in that scream.

Khan didn't immediately respond, "I think it was before I escaped." He said, "you look different."

Nate gave a short laugh, "Well, you don't exactly look like a basket of berries yourself."

"Not what I meant," Khan said, then he seemed to examine Nate with his one good eye, "There's been a change." He said.

Nate raised an eyebrow, "What kind of change?"

"A subtle one," Khan said as he began to curl into a ball on the cell floor.

Nate was confused by his answer, but he wasn't going to press it any more. Khan was in pain and needed rest, he needed to meditate…and set his Arceus-damn nose.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **And…done. Whew, that was a long chapter, and a somewhat difficult was as well. This chapter contained a lemon, and I had never written a lemon before. So forgive me if it's awkward.**

 **Things kind of took a darker turn here with a lot of focus on Nate and Khan, so next chapter I'm probably going to focus more on the other slaves. Give them a bit of the spotlight.**

 **Be sure to leave a review telling me your thoughts and any requests you may have for future chapters. Hope to see you all soon.**

 **This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Put to Work**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

 _CRACK_

"Oh Muk that hurt." Nate grunted as he massaged his nose, which he just set back into place. Flinching a bit as it pulsed a bit with every touch. From the warm and wet feeling flowing onto his lips, he assumed his nose was bleeding again. He snorted a bit and the metallic taste entered his mouth before spitting out the blood infused snot. "Bleh," he muttered while smacking his lips and tongue, hoping it would dull the taste.

Nate then turned his gaze to his curled up cellmate, "You know, being curled up like that is really going to screw up the skin on your back." He commented, "It'd be a lot better if you lie down on your stomach."

Khan gave a grunt, so Nate at least knew he was listening. There was a few seconds before Khan's form began to shift, but he didn't lie on his stomach. Instead Khan just adjusted himself into a seating position, his burnt back facing Nate.

Nate shrugged, "Okay, I guess that works." He said, "Now, don't freak out. But I don't wanna catch hypothermia, so I'm just going to strip these wet clothes and let them dry a bit. That cool?" Nate took Khan's lack of response as an affirmative and began to take off his jacket. After tying the jacket to the bars he took off his shirt, "Here," Nate said tossing the shirt Khan, "That should ease the burns a little."

"Don't know why you care." Khan muttered as he put it over his back.

"You're welcome." Nate said as he walked away from Khan, he then proceeded to sit down and get his pants off. "Never thought I'd be dropping my pants in front of someone ever again." Nate said with a slight chuckle. Khan didn't laugh, "Tough crowd." He muttered as he finished taking them off. Then he sat down and got into a meditating position; time to do the daily caging.

* * *

What woke Windy up was the scream, a scream that was a result from torture. She had no idea who it had belonged to, but a small part of her hoped it was the Wild Jacket. It was then that she noticed that she could hear noises that meant the scream had disturbed the livestock too.

"You heard it too?" Windy turned to see that one of the other slaves she was brought with – was her name Riet? – was awake as well. Actually she was surprised to see that they were the only ones that were awake. All the other slaves in the sleeping area were sound asleep.

Windy nodded, "Yeah, it sounded painful." She said. "C'mon, let's see if we can calm them down." She said as she got up, Riet followed and they walked around the sleeping slaves and quietly made their way to the stables.

* * *

The flames from the Rapidash gave the sable a warm glowing feel to it, there were mostly Rapidash and Zebristrika, but there were a few Mudsdales. Only about a fourth of them were awake so they didn't have to do much.

As Riet calmed down a Rapidash she gave a slight laugh, "To bad these guys are walking beacons, they we could easily just sneak out and ride them down this mountain and their flames could keep us warm." She said.

Windy stopped briefly before continuing to ease the Mudsdale, "Yeah, you have no idea how much I'd like to get off this peak." She said.

"I think I have a good idea," Riet said, "When I was a little girl, my grandfather told me stories, stories that his grandfather told him. About a time where humans weren't slaves and the Gijinka didn't even exist; in fact it was the humans that were calling the shots and the Pokémon the Gijinka used to be would obey humans instead."

"My mom told me stories like that too." Windy said, "Wouldn't that be something if we could command the Gijinka?"

Riet grinned at the thought, "Justice and revenge would be sweet. Give them the 'eye for an eye' treatment." Riet said. Windy looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. Riet was slightly confused at the look, but then she remembered about the eye patch, "Sorry, poor choice of words." She said somewhat Mareepishly, heat rising to her cheeks.

Windy smiled slightly for a brief moment, but it disappeared when a voice spoke, "What are you two doing here?" The two girls jumped and turned to see a heavily armored Gijinka at the stable's opening. Judging from the blades jutting out from several places in his armor, they assumed he was a Bisharp. "You two are supposed to be in your sleeping area." he said as he walked towards them.

Both Riet and Windy's expressions hardened into glares as the Gijinka approached, "These guys were getting restless and woke us up so we decided to come calm them down." Riet said.

The Bisharp seemed to raise an eyebrow; it was hard to tell from his helmet and looked around the stable. Then he leaned forward a bit looked toward Windy with a suspicious glance, "Is that right?"

Windy's expression never faltered, "Yes."

The guard looked between them a few times, "Well then," he said straightening up, "I'll be sure to let your supervisor know that you two both have an extra portion at mealtime tomorrow." He said as he turned and walked away, "Finish up what you're doing and head back to bed."

His comment left the two of them confused, "You aren't going to punish us, or keep an eye on us?" Riet asked, voicing Windy's thoughts.

The guard stopped, "…Would you like me to?" he asked. Neither of them answered, "I thought so. Besides, where would you go?" he asked, "There's no way off this mountain, no way for you at least." He said. "Even if you did manage it, you wouldn't survive the climb down. Believe me, I know." He said before he resumed walking until he was out of sight.

Windy and Riet turned to look at each other, still confused. They shrugged it off and finished up before returning to the sleeping area. As they both lay down in their spots to fall asleep again, they were both asking the same question to themselves. Exactly what just happened with that guard?

* * *

Nate wasn't sure how long he'd been meditating, but it wasn't getting him anywhere. No matter how hard he tried to concentrate. He just felt the presence creeping up in order to show itself. Growling in annoyance he opened his eyes, got up and began to pace around the cage, occasionally stopping to throw a few punches in the hopes of loosening himself up.

"You're wasting your time."

Nate stopped to look over at Khan, who was still sitting with his back to him. "Not sure if you noticed, but time seems to be something I have a lot of at the moment." He said before continuing. After a few more punches Nate got frustrated and just hit his head against the metal bars of the cage. There was a slight rattle, but nothing else.

"If you're going to throw your head against something," Khan said, "Why not something sharper?" he suggested.

"What like my wit?" Nate joked. It warranted no response. "Well perhaps you can help me with something?" Khan didn't respond so he kept talking, "You see, I'm trying to get my wild side under control. Normally I could do meditation, but that isn't working. So my other option would be to sleep and kinda give my body a reset, you know what I mean?" he asked.

"And your point is?" Khan asked.

Nate rolled his eyes, "My point is I take forever to fall asleep, and I can't exactly knock myself out. That's where you come in." he said.

Khan was silent, "You want me…to knock you out?" he asked.

Nate nodded, then he realized that Khan still wasn't facing him, "Yep, that's exactly what I want you to do. Now I think the best place to hit me would be-" Nate never got to finish his sentence, because in almost a blur of movement. Khan was in front up him and his fist was slamming into the side of his face. The impact sent him stumbling through the side and into the bars once again before he dropped to the floor of the cage like a sack of potatoes.

Khan cracked his neck a few times to remove the stiff feeling, "That felt good." He muttered as he returned to his spot and curled up on the floor like he did before, "I hope you enjoyed it too." He said.

One of the shadows in the room seemed to ripple as Kali rose from it like it was water, she seemed surprised, "How…how did you?" she asked.

Khan almost rolled his eyes, "I could smell your arousal, but there's nothing more for you to watch here. So I'd suggest leaving." He said. Kali was silent for a few seconds before she slipped back into the shadows. Khan sighed, "Peace…" he said softly before he felt sleep overtake him.

* * *

The sound of pickaxes and other tools hammered away at the rock face of the large cavern was the only sound to be heard, other than the occasional order from the supervisor or gripe from the guards. There was dust and dirt going everywhere as the dozens of slaves picked and dug at the wall. The slaves that were digging were loading the rocks into carts and moving them away from the other miners. Some slaves were slower than others, but they didn't show any signs of stopping.

* * *

The supervisor, an Exploud, looked around to see the progress and hard work happening around him. As he did so he heard an alarm go off and a red light that was hanging from the ceiling began to blink. As the alarm continued to sound, the slaves eventually stopped working.

The supervisor cleared his throat before speaking in his booming and echoing voice, "Alright you filthy ground scrapers, that's all the work for today. We're heading back up." He said before turning around and heading towards the opening in the cavern. The slaves followed were the guards walking either behind or to the side of them.

* * *

They walked down a series of caverns before coming to a large elevator platform that was meant to run up a massive cliff side. Everyone loaded themselves onto it before the supervisor looked up and called out, "Take us up!" he shouted, cause all the slaves to cover their ears.

His command echoed through the silent cave, and soon a serious of deep clanks were heard, slowly becoming louder and louder until the platform shifted with a slight jerk and began to rise. The ascent was somewhat slow at first, but the higher they got, the faster they went.

* * *

As the platform went up, Nexel couldn't help but look over the side. He could no longer see the bottom. Just how deep was this. Nexel found himself leaning more, but then he was yanked back. Somewhat started he turned around to see a powerfully built slave with a thick grey beard that was taller than him, and that was saying something.

"They don't go to retrieve the ones that fall." The slave said in an old gravelly voice. Nexel nodded and figured he'd stay away from the edge.

* * *

After a while they finally arrive at the top of the cliff side. On top of it was a well-lit runway to a large build. The building was a supply area that connected to some of the lower chambers of Castle Spear Pillar. Once the platform came to a stop, the supervisor led everyone into the supply building.

"Alright slaves, drop of your gear where it's meant to go and then make your way to the mess hall. After supper, you'll dismiss to your sleeping area."

* * *

Nexel looked down at the bowl within his hands, it was full of stew. The thing was…he had no idea what was in it. It was still a bit warm and smelled way better than other meals he's had in the past. It just wasn't aesthetically pleasing to the eyes.

"Hey," Nexel looked up from his bowl to see a wild mane of brown hair and a dirty, yet familiar, face, "Your name's Nexel, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Nexel replied with a nod, "Nicolas?"

Nicolas grinned, "That's my name, try not to forget it." he said as he sat down next to Nexel. "So…do you know what's in this?"

"You two must be new." Both of them looked up to see another slave sit down across from them. While Nicolas didn't know him, Nexel recognized him as the slave that prevented him from leaning over, "Trust me, it's not as bad as it looks." He said as he began to drink the stew from the bowl. Nicolas and Nexel followed his example, but they both grimaced when the taste hit their mouths. The old slave chuckled, "It's still pretty bad though, you get used to it." he said, "Personally I think they just boil whatever scraps the kitchens had lying around." He said. The two teens chuckled a little, "So, how about some introductions?"

"I'm Nexel and this is Nicolas." Nexel said pointing a thumb at the brunette next to him.

The old slave nodded, "Well, I used to have a name. But I've been working these mines for so long the others have decided to call me Gray. So that's what I go by."

Nicolas raised an eyebrow, "How long have you worked in the mines?" he asked out of curiosity.

Gray took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "Let me think…" he said as he began stroking his beard in deep thought. "My best guess…30 years, give or take a few." He answered before drinking his stew again.

"What?" they both said out of shock. "Aren't you sick of this place?"

Gray finished drinking from his bowl and then began to use his hands to dig out the scraps in the bowl to eat them. "Sure a change of scenery would be nice and it wouldn't hurt to get a little sunlight, but other than that I really have no complaints. The work keeps me active, they feed us regularly, every week they let us have music night to raise our spirits, and I'm constantly surrounded by family." He said placing his bowl down.

Nexel made a noise that could've been considered a scoff, "Family, really?" he asked.

Gray nodded, "Of course, look around you." he said gesturing with his arms to the slaves around them, "You think because we're not blood, we're not family? We look after each other, when times are tough we push through it together, and when our bodies ache, there's always a fellow miner willing to give to a helping hand or a shoulder to lean on. We stay together, so the Gijinka can't break us apart."

"Then why not fight against the Gijinka?" Nicolas asked, "You guys have the numbers, you could easily fight back and free yourselves." He said.

Gray laughed softly, "If only it were that simple. You see, the miners run under a unity system. If someone hits the mother lode, we all benefit. If one of us acts up, we're _all_ punished for it." he explained, "It's not that we don't want to, there are just more important things right now."

Nexel and Nicolas wanted to protest, but before they could another alarm sounded. "Is it that time already?" Gray asked no one in particular, "Well, time to hit the sack. Get plenty of sleep boys; you've got a full day's worth of work tomorrow." He said as he got up and walked away.

Nexel and Nicolas shared a look before getting up themselves and following the other slaves to their sleeping area.

* * *

Echo, Celia and Faye weren't really sure what to make of their situation. Ever since they had been separated from the other slaves they were brought in with, they had been locked in a room and were told to wait there until further construction. They spent most of the waiting sleeping, seeing as they were pretty exhausted. But when they weren't sleeping, they were somewhat nervous about for what the king's 'specially marked' slaves were meant for. They had talked about several different possibilities, but they put them to a stop because there were far too many bad ones. Ever since then, it had been silent, save for Celia's quiet and melodious humming.

When they heard the lock click and begin to open, Celia stopped humming and they all jumped to their feet. They were surprised when the door opened and Plasmane stepped through the door with Nikki behind him. His electric gaze seemed to paralyze them as he looked the three of them over.

"I can't believe this." Plasmane said in an annoyed tone before turning to Nikki, "I thought I told you that you three were to be ready before I collected them."

The three girls were stunned, "I'm sorry?" Celia asked.

"Well, your majesty," Nikki said, "You didn't specify that when you said 'ready' they were to be cleaned up."

Plasmane sighed, "Well I can't have them looking like that." He said gesturing a hand towards them. While Echo was the cleanest of the three, they were still pretty dirty. "Well…I suppose I still have an hour or two before I need you three. Might as well send you three to the baths."

"W-we're g-g-going to be b-bath slaves?" Echo asked in a quiet voice.

"No," Plasmane said with a shake of the head, "I'm going to have by servants clean you three up and prepare you."

"Prepare us?" Faye asked, "For what?"

Plasmane smiled slightly, "You'll find out soon enough," he said as he walked back out the door, "I'll leave you in Nikki's capable hands." He said before walking away and leaving Nikki behind.

Nikki placed her hands on her hips and looked the three girls over, "Well, it'll take quite a bit of scrubbing to get all that dirt and grime off, but I promise you'll all be gorgeous when we're done." She said with a smile, "Come along dearies." She said.

Echo was the first to start walking and Celia and Faye were quick to follow her. As they walked Echo was nervous. If she was going in the baths, then it was possible that she'd have to reveal herself. As if Nikki heard her thoughts, which she probably did, Echo heard her voice in her head, _"Don't worry Echo dear, you'll be given your own bath and I'll be cleaning you up myself. Your secret is safe with me."_ Echo felt a wave of relief wash over her and she smiled a bit. She liked Nikki. _"I'm glad that you do."_ Echo blushed a bit from embarrassment and Nikki giggled a bit.

"What's so funny?" Faye asked.

Nikki waved the question off, "Nothing you need to concern yourself with." She said. "What you should concern yourself with is what you're going to do with your hair once it's washed up."

Faye rolled her eyes a bit, "Pardon me, let me just get in touch with my stylist." She said, Celia giggled a bit.

Nikki laughed, "I knew that Plasmane chose well with you." she said, "I think we're going to get along swimmingly." She said. "Though I do have another question, who was singing earlier?" she asked looking over her shoulder.

Celia's smiled Mareepishly, "Um…me." she said softly.

"Nothing to be ashamed of, you have a lovely voice." Nikki said, "In fact, we could use some more music in this place, the closest thing we get is when the miner's music night carries through the vents and the princess' lessons." She said. "The guards are always so serious."

"Especially that Admiral," Faye said.

"Don't I know it," Nikki said, "We're almost there, so try to keep up girls."

* * *

When Nate came too, he had a massive headache that felt like he took a hammer to the forehead. He groaned as he massaged his temples, "Oh man, that hurts." He said. But the good thing was he didn't feel his wild side trying to come out.

"Great, you're awake." Khan said somewhat sarcastically.

"Yeah, and thanks." Nate said, "You really can pack a punch." He said and he got up and began to stretch his body. "Could I get my shirt back? It won't be much use to you dry." Khan tossed it over and he caught it. "Thanks." He said as he put it on. He then proceeded to put on the rest of his dry clothes on, "Much better." He said. He looked over at Khan, he never really notice it. But his skin was pretty messed up. "If you don't mind me asking, is there any part of your body that _isn't_ scarred?"

"What, you want a competition of who's got the most scars?" Khan asked turning around. He looked Nate over, Khan could see through the rips in Nate's shirt that the dirt had been washed away to show that Nate's body did have scars, but not nearly as many as him. "You'd easily lose if that was the case. And to answer your question; there isn't a part of my body that isn't scarred, the part of my body with the least scars is my face?"

Nate nodded, "Physically yes, but if it were about mental scars, I think it we'd be evenly matched." He said.

Khan scoffed a bit, "I doubt that." He muttered.

Nate shrugged, "You don't know how much I've got haunting me up here. Maybe I haven't been mentally scarred in the same ways you have, but that doesn't mean that mine aren't just as bad. Plus the Gijinka that tortured me the other day certainly burned a mark in my mind." He said with a slight chuckled. Khan didn't laugh, or have any reaction to his comment. There was a moment of silence, "Well, why don't we talk about something else?"

"And here I was thinking you were actually capable of shutting up." Khan muttered.

Nate ignored his comment, "Have you ever thought about what things would be like if the Gijinka had never taken over?" he asked.

Khan raised an eyebrow. It was kind of a random topic to jump to, "What slave hasn't?"

"Yeah I know, but have you really thought about it?" Nate asked, "Like where you'd be in the world, what you'd be doing, what you'd want to do, who you'd be with? Things like that."

Khan thought for a moment, then he shrugged, "I don't know. I'm sure I have at one point, but it was too long ago for me to remember."

Nate nodded, "Understandable." He said, "I think I'd be traveling, going from region to region, seeing the world." Nate said, "Not sure if I would be a trainer though, but who knows." He said, "I'd be doing all that, but most of all. I'd be doing them with her."

Khan admitted, he was becoming a bit more interested, "Her?"

Nate nodded, "Yep her, she'd be by my side throughout the whole thing. We'd support each other and always be there for one another. We'd love each other and one day I'd marry her. Yeah, that's how things would be" Nate said, a smile on his face as he thought about it. But then the smile faded away, "But sadly things aren't like that, they can never be like that."

"Yeah, no shit." Khan said.

Nate shook his head, "No, you don't understand. It isn't just because humans are enslaved. It's because she's gone." Nate said, clenching his eyes shut as they began to itch, "The day the guards discovered that my parents took me in as their son instead of their slave four years ago. Everything just went to shit. When the Gijinka came to arrest my parents and send us to the slavers, they told us to run. It broke my heart to see them taken away. We were able to get a head start, but they still managed to catch up to us and one of them shot her with a Bullet Seed." He said, tears beginning to leak out.

Khan sat in silence, something about this was…strangely familiar, but he didn't say anything.

"My parents gave themselves up to give us a chance, but it didn't matter. She still got shot. I tried to carry her as far as I could. Hopefully to a safer place so I could try to patch her up." Nate said, "But she was bleeding so much and she was in so much pain that I had to stop. She was bleeding out and dying, and despite all that she smiled and told me not to lose hope…and then she was gone." He said, tears flowing down his cheeks like rivers. "GRAH!" Nate roared before punching the cage wall. "Why did it have to be her?! It should've been me, or I should've died with her!" he said as he continued to hit the wall over and over, with each hit the blows got softer and softer until he just gripped the bars and cried a bit, "The saddest part wasn't what happened, it was that I couldn't do anything to stop it. That day still haunts my memories." Nate said. Then he waited, he waited for Khan to make one of his usual comments, but he didn't say anything.

When Khan did speak, he surprised him by asking, "That girl, what was her name?" Nate turned to look at Khan, his head was slightly bowed.

"Carol," Nate said, "Carol Schmidt." The name seemed to echo in Khan's ears for a second before his eyes widened slightly and a memory from almost years ago enveloped his mind.

* * *

 _He was kneeling beside a human girl around his age with long brown hair and a badly wrapped bandage around her midsection, "Take it easy, you've lost a good amount of blood and have_ _been asleep for a while. So you're_ _still pretty weak."_

 _The girl's blue eyes looked back at him, slightly saddened, "Who are…you're not…" she said._

 _Khan shook his head, "Sorry to disappoint." He said, "I'm Khan Kensaki, and I'm the reason you're still alive." He explained, "And you are?"_

 _The girl was silent for a bit before answering, "Carol, Carol Schmidt."_

* * *

Khan came out of the memory and raised his head up to see Nate looking at him with a somewhat puzzled look, "That's…that's a beautiful name."

Nate nodded and turned away, "Yeah, almost as beautiful as she was." he said.

Khan didn't say anything more.

* * *

Faye had to admit, it felt really good to be clean. Celia seemed to think so too, seeing as she couldn't stop running her hands across her skin and through her hair. Echo seemed to be more used to being clean as she simply looked more relaxed. After the three had finished their bathes, they had each been given a maid uniform instead of the clothes they came in with. Faye assumed they got her measurements from her slave papers because the uniform fit her perfectly. Celia seemed to enjoy how comfy the uniform was. Echo just seemed to like being in uniform again, though she insisted on keeping her old headscarf.

"Oh don't you three just look precious." Nikki said as she looked them over like a mother looks over her daughters before a dance.

Plasmane was there too, and he seemed to approve, "Much better, and just in time too. She'll be waking up anytime now?"

"Who will?" Celia asked.

Plasmane grinned, "The birthday girl, and my daughter," he explained, "Princess Aria."

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **Whew, finally it's done.**

 **Hey guys, you'll be happy to know that this story isn't dead. It just took forever to write because writer's really decided to kick me in the balls this time.**

 **It was good to give the other OC's a spotlight, even though I couldn't fit quite all of them it. I just couldn't find a way to fit them in and still keep whatever flow this chapter has remaining.**

 **I hope you enjoyed and be sure to leave a review telling me your thoughts (I only got 3 on the last chapter, 4 if you include the guest politely asking me to update soon). See you all next time.**

 **PS – My birthday is this Tuesday so if you want to wish me a happy birthday; feel free to shoot me a PM.**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Princess Aria**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

Nate admitted that he was a bit curious as to why Carol's name seemed to send Khan into some kind of daze, but he knew better than to question it. It wasn't like he was going to tell him anyway. So instead, he sat down and reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small thin leather book. After flipping through the pages to make sure the water torture didn't ruin it; the Gijinka may have twisted minds when it comes to torture, but they don't mess around with these leather jackets.

As he flipped through the pages again, Nate looked over the drawings and sketches he had added to the book over the past while. There were sketches of scenic views, but also of many different kinds of Gijinka. Each sketch had a lot of time and effort put into it, the detail was proof of that. As Nate neared the end of the book, the sketches changed from a variety of things to just one thing, or rather, one _person_.

It was a girl, a beautiful girl with long dark hair, each picture was a different depiction of her. And they continued until Nate can to an unfinished sketch. The girl was looking over her shoulder, seemingly at him, and smiling. There wasn't a lot of detail put into it, but that made sense considering the fact that it wasn't finished. He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a charcoal pencil, he thought for a minute. Bringing the face to his mind before he began to add to the drawing.

* * *

As Plasmane led the three slaves toward their destination with Nikki not too far behind them, they thought about what they were in for. The princess' slaves…they really had no idea what to expect. They didn't know much about the princess, in fact, they knew nothing about her. Most of the stuff they knew about the outside world was stuff they overheard from their past masters and any Gijinka within hearing range. It wasn't exactly a consistent way to get information, but the Gijinka could be real Chatots sometimes. And when they tried to remember, they couldn't think of one instance of when they heard any gossip about the princess.

"Your highness," Faye said, breaking the silence, "If you don't mind me asking, what should we expect Princess Aria to be like?" Both Celia and Echo were thankful she asked this, because there really wasn't much of a chance that they would.

Plasmane glanced over his shoulder, "Well, she takes more after her mother if that tells you anything." He said before looking back ahead. No one really said anything more until the king stopped in front of a door. There was nothing really significant about, except for a sign on the door that read ' _Knock first'_. Also, the girls could swear that they were hearing muffled music from the other side of it, "We're here." he said before raising a fist and knocking on the door.

The music seemed to abruptly stop, then a few muffled noises sounded from behind the door and even a few bumps. After a few seconds a young voice sounded, "Come in." it sounded friendly, and a bit musical as well. Upon hearing the voice, Plasmane opened the door and stepped inside with the girls and Nikki following close behind.

* * *

While they expect a large room, they didn't expect it to be _this_ big. It seemed more like a wing than a room, considering it looked like there were doors leading to even more rooms. The color scheme included white, and varying shades of blue and yellow. The ceiling was painted to look like a stormy sky and the walls also had a similar them since that had lightning bolts running down them that looked like veins of gold(and when thinking about who this belonged to it probably was). There was a fire place large enough to stand inside, the furniture in the room was very well crafted and there were a few armchairs, some end tables and even a couch. There wasn't a bed in sight so that clearly meant that it wasn't in this part of the wing. Echo had been in some very nice wings before, but this one put they all to shame. If this was the princess' chambers. They wondered how nice Plasmane's must be.

"Daddy!" When all of them were in; Faye, Celia, and Echo could see a female gijinka about their age hug Plasmane.

"Happy birthday my little Sparkling." Plasmane said with a slight chuckle.

Nikki stepped forward, "It's not just him that's here to greet the birthday girl." She said.

The girl broke the hug and her face seemed to light up, "Aunt Nikki!" she said before rushing over and hugging the Jynx.

Nikki laughed before kissing the top of her head, "Hello Aria."

The girl broke the hug, "Why are you here so early?" she asked.

Plasmane took this opportunity to speak again, "Well, it is your sixteenth birthday. So I thought a special day like this meant that I should give you your present sooner rather than later." He said before he and Nikki stepped to the side. Now the girls could clearly see the girl, who was clearly Princess Aria.

She was still in her nightgown, meaning it that either she hasn't been up for very long, or was and just didn't feel like changing quite yet. She was a bit short with her being shorter than Faye and Celia, but still taller than Echo. Her frame was also more on the thin side with some decent curves, she wasn't as curvy as Faye though. She was a bit pale, but also pretty fair as well with some freckles dotting across her nose and cheeks. Here hair was snow white, with the exception of blue highlights. Her hair was long enough to brush her shoulders and v-bangs with the point in between her eyebrows. Poking out of her hair on the top of her head was a set of pointy blue ears and there was a somewhat big fluffy white tail slightly swaying from side to side behind her. From looking at her the three slaves could tell that she was a Pachirisu Gijinka.

Aria's round blue-grey eyes regarded the three slaves with both curiosity and confusion, "Umm…who are they?" she asked.

Instead of answering, Plasmane turned to Nikki, "Could you please take those three into the other room? I'd like a minute to talk to Aria."

* * *

After Nikki had escorted the three girls out of the room, Aria turned to her dad, "So, who were they?"

Plasmane sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, "Let's sit down so we can talk." He said as he led her to the couch. After sitting her down he sat down next to her, "Aria, do you know why sixteen is such an important birthday?"

She nodded, "16 is when a gijinka comes of age and is basically considered an adult."

"Exactly, now while it means you can legally drink alcohol, which you won't be doing anytime soon I hope." He said, Aria rolled her eyes at the last part, "It means that you are able to do other things as well, which leads me to your present. Sixteen is the age where a gijinka is able to legally own your own human slaves."

Aria's eyes widened slightly, "You mean…?"

Plasmane nodded, "Yes, those three human girls are to be your new slaves, I also have a fourth slave to give you, but that will be given later." He said, "I know what you're going to say, but let me explain. It's been a long tradition for the king to give the heir to the kingdom their first slaves when they come of age. I wouldn't have given you them if it wasn't a tradition." He said, "Their names are Echo, Celia and Faye. They're meant to be maids, but feel free to treat them and use them however you see fit." He explained before standing up and ruffled the hair between Aria's ears, "I'll see you at dinner tonight, I have other matters to tend to."

Aria was curious, "Which are?"

"I have to give the news to the Lords and Ladies overseeing the other regions that you're now of age and potential suitors are now able to court you." he said, though his tone of voice made it very clear he didn't want to.

Aria frowned and pouted a bit, "Seriously?"

Plasmane chuckled, "Don't worry, I am in absolutely no rush to marry you off. Also the Yearly Council of Seven is coming up." he said, referencing the annual council where Plasmane met with the Lords and Ladies of the regions, "And this year, you'll be able to accompany me to this meeting, you have to start preparing for the day where you'll take the crown and have to run those councils yourself." He said before beginning to walk towards the door, "Enjoy your birthday Kiddo, but try not to go _too_ nuts." Was the last thing he said before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

* * *

Aria let out a sigh as she wrapped her tail around herself, placed her elbow on it like a pillow, and rested her cheek on her hand. "My own slaves…hmmmm." she said to herself as she thought about her situation.

Nikki and the girls straightened up when Aria opened the door and entered the room. After the door closed , Aria began to look the three girls over. They had to admit, if there was anything she got from her father, it was his intense gaze, "Aunt Nikki, you can go now. I'll take it from here." she said.

Nikki nodded, "Alright Aria, I'll see you later for your birthday lunch." She said before turning to look at the three girls before walking out of the room, thus leaving Aria alone with the girls.

Aria's gaze didn't leave up as she folded her arms and seemed to be examining them. While the stare was intense, Faye found it hard to take the princess seriously while she was still in her nightgown with that big fluffy tail.

"Alright," Aria said, breaking the silence, as she began to walk around the three girls like some sort of predator, the girls weren't sure if they should say anything. "My dad said your names are Echo, Faye and Celia…but he didn't say who was who." She said as she stopped in front of them again, "So you're going to have to help me out here." she said, first walking up to Faye, having to tilt her head up a bit to look her in the eye. "Let's start with you." she said.

Faye looked down at the princess, keeping a straight face despite how amusingly adorable the princess was when she tried to be serious, "Faye Brighton." She said simply.

Aria seemed to look Faye up and down before moving on to Celia, again having to look up to make eye contact, "And you are?" she asked.

Celia's smiled ever so slightly, but other than that, her face remained straight as well, "Celia Folley." She said.

Aria nodded before moving on to Echo, who was having a way more difficult time keeping a straight face. Aria raised an eyebrow, "Is something funny?" she asked.

Echo shook her head, "N-no, n-n-not at all." She said, though her stuttered and pursed lips weren't very convincing, "I-I'm E-echo Sinc-clair."

Aria seemed to make direct eye contact with Echo for a few seconds before breaking it and taking a few steps back to look at all three girls, "So, you three are going to be my new slaves?" she asked. When the three of them nodded, Aria's eyes narrowed, "Wrong answer." She said.

The girls exchanged either confused or worried looks, before looking back to the princess, unsure of what she was going to do. Then the princess' serious and intense look completely disappeared and she gave a big smile, "You three are going to be my new maids, and my new best friends!"

* * *

The sound of pencil scratching against paper was really beginning to rub Khan the wrong way, he was willing to let it go at first, but now…

"Will you cut that out?" Khan requested, well softly demanded would've been a better term for it.

The scratching stopped and Nate looked over at him, "Just as soon as you tell me the things that _don't_ get on your nerves." He said.

"Would you like the short version, or should I go into the other room to collect the full edition?" Khan asked sarcastically.

Nate chuckled, "Well, I think I've added enough for now." He said as he put the pencil back into his jacket, "Wanna see what I was working on?" he asked, offering the small sketchbook to Khan.

Khan sighed, "Whatever will get you to shut up." He said as he grabbed the book and flipped through it until the last page that had a drawing in it. What he saw what he was drawing, he kept his expression neutral with little to no effort. Yep, it was her alright. It wasn't finished, but there was no doubt that it was the same Carol.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Nate said.

Khan shrugged, "The drawing isn't finished, so I can't really say for certain." He said.

"Well, why don't you check the finished sketches then." Nate suggested. Khan rolled his eyes and flipped back a few pages at the completed sketches…there were so many.

"Seems a bit unhealthy if you ask me." Khan said as he closed the sketchbook.

Khan tossed the sketchbook back to Nate, but before he could catch it, it halted in place when a shadowy hand seemed to materialize and grab it. Then the shadowy hand started to slowly pull it out of the cage. As it did so, a three-dimensional silhouette began to materialize. When a full body formed, the shadow dissipated to reveal Kali holding the sketchbook.

"Now what do we have here?" she asked.

"Hey!" Nate exclaimed, "Give that back!" he went to take the book back, but he was stopped by a shadowy force that pushed him back into the cage wall behind him.

"We'll be having none of that." Kali said as she opened the sketchbook and began to look through the pages, "Seems that we have an artist in our midst, and a pretty decent one too. I'm seeing some landscapes, some gijinka…" she said before she sent Nate a pretty flirty look, "Maybe one day you can sketch me like one of your Kalos girls." She said with a giggle, but then she arrived at the end of the sketchbook. "Oh? Is this that dead girl I saw from your memories?" she asked curiously, "Aww, what a shame. I almost feel sorry-" Kali was cut off when Nate rushed over, reached his arm through the cage bars, and grabbed the sketchbook out of her hands.

Nate glared at her, "I don't know or care how, but if you do that again. I _will_ find a way to hurt you." he said.

Kali didn't seem fazed by the action or the threat, she only raised a pale eyebrow at his glare. She couldn't explain it, but there seemed like there was a second pair of eyes burning behind Nate's. "You can try, Sweetie," she said before she grinned and booped Nate's nose, "but we both know how that would end." She said before melting into the shadows and vanishing. Nate seemed to mutter something under his breath before sitting down.

"Like I said, unhealthy." Khan said.

Nate glanced over at him, "What is?" he asked.

Khan rolled his eyes, "This self-torture you do to yourself." He said, "This Carol died…what was it? 4 years ago?" he asked. Nate nodded, "You know, you really should consider moving on from her." he said.

Nate only shrugged, "Maybe." He said before going back to his drawing. Khan sighed and leaned back against the cage wall. Khan knew Nate wasn't going to consider it.

* * *

To say the girls were surprised by what the princess said was a bit of an understatement. What she said was one of the last things they expected. Celia opened her mouth to voice her thoughts, but she didn't get to before Aria was hugging her tightly. "Oh this is going to be so much fun!" Aria said in an excited tone. She broke the hug, only to practically tackle Echo with another one. "I mean, we could try on clothes, paint our nails, do each other's hair." She said as she broke the hug and looked at Echo again, "You're really pretty by the way, even with that wine stain." She said, causing Echo's cheeks to flush. Then finally she rushed over to Faye, who was kind of expecting the hug, but was still almost knocked over by the princess, "There's also make overs, sleepovers, we can talk about cute boys." She listed off as she squeezed Faye. After breaking the hug, Aria added something else, "Figure out how you got your chest to be so big."

Echo snorted and Celia could no longer keep a straight face as both girls had to cover their mouths in an attempt to contain their giggles, even Faye's poker face broke slightly as she was a bit taken aback by the comment, but she smiled a little bit as well. "Well, to answer your question, it's just natural growth."

"Lucky," Aria said somewhat pouty, Celia could've sworn that the princess looked down at her own chest, but it quickly went away, "Well, as my new maids, my first order is to help me choose an outfit for the day." She said before walking back towards the door.

* * *

When Aria was out of the room, the three girls exchanged looks again. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

Just as Khan had gotten used to the scratching sounds of Nate's sketching, a loud clicking noise of a door being unlocked sounded through the room. Both of them looked towards the door just as it opened and Daedalus stepped into the room.

"Alright Wild Jacket, you're punishment is over and your assignment has been given." The admiral said as he walked towards the cage.

Nate put the sketchbook away, "Finally, leaning against these bars wasn't really doing anything for my back." He said as he stood up and began to bend and stretch his back.

Daedalus only grunted as he began to move his hand in intricate patterns as one of the metal cuffs attached to his belt seemed to liquefy and float towards Nate, "Standard protocol." He said simply.

"Do what you have to do?" Nate said as he held his hands out and let the metal envelope his hands before it solidified, "So, where am I being stationed, close to the surface?" He asked curiously.

The admiral unlocked the cage, "No, quite the opposite. You've been assigned to the mines, which means we're going deeper." He said as he attached a chain to Nate's cuffs, "Come on Slave, and don't cause any trouble."

Nate grinned, "Oh come on Admiral, when have I ever been known to cause trouble?" he asked in a somewhat playful and joking tone.

Daedalus took a deep breath, "If I had the authority, I would've cut out your tongue the second you came here." he muttered.

"I'd drink to that." Khan muttered, lifting a hand as if it was holding a drink.

Nate looked between the two of them, "If not for the different species, I'd assume you two were father and son." He said.

"Come on." Daedalus grunted as he pretty much pulled Nate out of the cage before locking it. Then he basically marched out of the room tugging Nate along, leaving Khan all alone inside.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **And done.**

 **Wow, I managed to finish this chapter a lot sooner than the last one. Hopefully this means I'm updating more and more frequently. Maybe once every other week or something around those lines.**

 **We've met the princess and Plasmane's daughter Aria, a Pachirisu Gijinka. A big shout out to SmilingPrince for guessing it correctly. I want you guys' thoughts on her(that and I just want to hear more from you guys in the reviews).**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, be on the lookout for the next one. Leave a review voicing your thoughts and I hope you all stick around, because it's really you guys that keep this story going.**

 **But for now, this is W. R. Winters signing off.**

 **P.S. Since the next chapter is the tenth chapter, I feel like I should do something special for it. Any ideas/suggestions?**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Into the Mines**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

There was a serious difference in the amount of noise with no Nate, and Khan admitted that the silence was very nice. It gave him time to think. He began to look around room, trying to take note of any details that could be important in the future.

Khan's gaze stopped when he saw something in the center of the ceiling, there was a vent. Judging from its size, it looked to be barely big enough for a person to slip through-

Khan's thought process was interrupted by the door opening. He just couldn't get a moment of peace, could he? Khan looked at the door to see a guard holding a tray walking towards his cage. From how their armor was fitting against their body, Khan guessed the guard was female; and judging from her somewhat short stature, the robe-like clothing under her armor, and large grey ponytail. Khan figured that she must've been a Mawile.

"I'm meant to be the guard that watches over the caged slaves, now that we've actually got some, and since I was already coming here. The kitchens had me bring you this, so it's mealtime, Slave." The guard said as she placed a tray on the ground and pushed it through the food tray slot with her foot.

Khan looked down at the food; it was pretty basic: a bruised apple, a bowl of plain rice, a decently-sized piece of jerky, and a cup of water. "Maybe _I'm_ the king if this is what the meals are." he muttered.

The guard smiled a bit, "Madame Nicole likes to keep the caged ones well fed enough so that they're able to return to work with a slightly full stomach." She said.

Khan picked up the piece of jerky and tore part of it off with his teeth and began to chew. As expected, it was a bit dry, but savory with a peppery aftertaste, "You'd think more slaves would want to become caged if they got to be fed like this." He said.

The guard laughed, "I think the torture that comes with being caged kinda ruins it for them." She said.

"Makes sense." Khan admitted as he finished the jerky and moved on to the bowl of rice.

There was a few minutes of silence as Khan ate his meal before the guard spoke again, "So, word amongst the guards says that you're the White Bandanna, and that your cagemate was the Wild Jacket."

Khan nodded, "You just missed the Wild Jacket, he was sent to the mines."

The guard shrugged, "If his reputation holds true, he'll be back." She said. "I give him a week."

"A day would be a better guess." Khan replied. Then he got an idea, "Perhaps you'd be interested in making a little wager?"

"….I'm listening."

* * *

"So, is there anything you can tell me about working in the mines?"

"No."

It didn't really surprise Nate that Daedalus wasn't much of a talker, but so far any conversation he tried to make had only been answered by grunts or one word answers. Even if Khan was well…Khan, at least he had a slight chance of speaking a full sentence.

Both Khan and the admiral seriously needed to get laid.

* * *

He wasn't sure how long they had been walking or how deep they had gone, but eventually the came to a strong looking metal door. Daedalus pounded on the door with an armored fist, the knocked seemed to echo throughout the tunnel.

"Well…that's a little intimidating." Nate thought aloud.

There was the click and slide of an unlocking lock before, it swung inward to reveal an Exploud gijinka, He was as tall as Daedalus and had a bit of a rotund belly, but the rest of his body looked stocky and strong. He had a pretty long tube-like tail that was mostly purple with a yellow tip. He had a square-shaped head and long pale blue-purple tube-like dreadlocks that were yellow at the ends, intense pink eyes, a wide flat nose, and a seemingly large, wide and thick-lipped mouth. He was also wearing blue-purple coveralls that had zippers over his elbows, shoulders, and knees.

Upon seeing the admiral, he gave off a big grin, revealing four abnormally large peg-like canines. Nate wondered how he was able to keep his mouth fully closed with those things. "Admiral," he said in a booming voice that made Nate flinch, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Why else would I be here Boomer?" Daedalus asked before adding, "I have a new slave to add to your workforce."

Boomer chuckled, "Of course, bring him in and I'll take it from here." he said as he stepped to the side. When he did so, Nate could see that they were in a decently large room that had three metal doors, one on each wall, a Gijinka guarding every one of them. The admiral stepped inside, pulling Nate's chain as he did so. Once Nate was inside he handed the chain connected to Nate's cuffs to Boomer.

"Just a warning though, this one is a trouble-maker, be sure to keep a close eye on him." he said.

"Don't worry; we've got a good system down here. He won't be causing any trouble for very long." Boomer said. Daedalus nodded and began to walk out the door.

"Hey, wait a minute." Nate called out after him, "What about my cuffs?"

Daedalus stopped walking, "A stupid comment like that makes me wonder how you avoided getting caught for so long." He muttered, "Maybe you didn't realize it when you first came here, but guards are stationed everywhere, and a good portion of them are part Steel-type. Put two and two together on your own." He said before stepping outside the metal door, which looked to be almost one foot thick, swung closed behind him.

Boomer slowly shook his head at his exit, "He really needs to lighten up." He said as he walked to the door and proceeded to lock it, "The other supervisors and I keep trying to convince him to join us when we go out for drinks on the weekends, but he always seems to have an excuse. Too invested in his job that Daedalus, it's quite sad really." He said as he finished sealing the door. Then he turned to Nate, "I personally think he needs to get laid, do you agree?" he asked.

This was a new one, a Gijinka that was talking to him like he was anybody else. He wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, so Nate just nodded considering he did agree.

"Good." Boomer said as he clapped his hands together, "So, you've been assigned to be a worm to dig through this peak with the rest of your kind?" he asked.

Nate straightened up a bit, "Yes, Sir," He said. "just as soon as my hands are free."

Boomer nodded and smiled a bit, "Well, let's get you outfitted. It's almost wake up time for the other slaves anyway. Once we get you fitted, we'll wake the others up." He said as he turned around and walked towards one of the three doors. Nate was quick to follow since he didn't want to be tugged along.

As Boomer approached, the guard stepped to the side and opened the door so the supervisor could get through. When Nate stepped inside, he saw that this was some kind of storage room. There were spare mining tools of different kinds and sizes on one side, and selves of clothing on the other.

"I'd put you as a large." He said as he made his way towards the shelves, there were multiple shelves, but not very many articles of clothing on them. There were gloves, coveralls, socks, and boots. Boomer grabbed a set of each, "Hope these fit, because I'm not grabbing you anything more and chances are you won't a chance to swap them." He said placing the clothes in Nate's arms.

"Ummm…my cuffs?" Nate asked.

Boomer sighed, "Guard!" he suddenly shouted, making Nate jump, his ears were ringing. Nate felt a weird sensation across his hands before the feeling of the cuffs disappeared from his hands. He could see trails of liquid metal float out the door in his peripheral vision. "Go on and get changed while I wake up the other slaves. Come out when you're changed." Boomer said walking out of the room.

Nate looked down at the clothes in his arms, then at the shelves next to him, "Won't get another chance huh?" he asked no one in particular, smiling a bit.

* * *

Nate was walking around, moving around various parts of his body, getting used to the feel of the grey coveralls, the boots on his feet, and the gloves on his hands, "That should do it." he said as he put his jacket back on and walked out of the room.

 _ **RIIIIIIIIIINNNNNG!**_

Nate flinched a bit at the sudden alarm; that must be the wake up-

"GOOD MORNING YOU BRAINLESS EXCADRILLS!"

Nate nearly jumped out of his skin at the sounder of Boomer's very loud voice as he instinctively covered his ears. "Oh Muk, I'm going to go deaf if this keeps up." He said. He didn't really move from his position until the ringing in his ears died down. Once it did, the door on the other side of the room opened up and dozens of slaves, male and female(though to be honest it was far to tell with some of them) alike with a very wide age range, wearing similar coveralls and boots.

They didn't seem to acknowledge Nate's presence as they drowsily marched to the third metal door. Figuring that that's where he needed to go, Nate went to join the march.

* * *

When Nate got through the door, he saw that they were in a massive mess hall. There were tables that some of the slaves were already sitting in everywhere and most of the slaves were lining up in front of a counter. From the smell Nate was picking up on, they must've been serving breakfast. Nate's stomach growled at the thought of something to eat, he hadn't been fed since he arrived after all. So he was quick to get in line.

Nate sat down at a table by himself, looking down at the bowl in front of him. It was filled with a substance that looked like either oatmeal or porridge. Figuring it couldn't be much worse than the garbage he sometimes had to live off of before getting captured, so he scooped it up with his spoon and had a taste.

It had a strange consistency to it, but that did nothing to mask the taste of oats with a hint of apple and cinnamon. But Nate was hungry, so it could've tasted like shit and he still would've wolfed it down.

"Well, look who it is."

Nate tensed a bit from the voice behind him, but it went away when he turned around to see a familiar brunette, who was accompanied by Nexel and an older bearded slave he didn't fully recognize, "Nicolas." Nate said with a grin

Nicolas returned his grin, "Good to see you." he said as he sat down next to him. Nexel and the bearded slave sat across from them on the other side of the table and they began to eat their breakfast.

"The feeling is mutual." Nate said, happy to have some of his fellow slave brothers with him. The he looked over at the older slave, who quickly made eye contact. His yellow eyes locking onto Nate's blue ones. "Don't think I've met you." he said before sticking a hand out, "The name's Nate Xerna, but most know me better as the Wild Jacket." He said, "Also, it's not every day you see a human with yellow eyes." He said. It was strange, Gray's eyes seemed a bit… _familiar_ to him, though he couldn't place them.

The slave shook Nate's outstretched hand, a slight grin on his face, "I'm Gray, and I guess it's just a genetic anomaly." he said, "And yes, I've heard of you fighting against the guards." He said, "Pretty foolish behavior if you ask me, and that kind of behavior isn't exactly well thought of down here."

"Don't worry, I have no plans to start anything." Nate said, releasing Gray's hand, "Actually I try to avoid those fights, they only reason I did end up getting into those fights was so I could get away."

Gray raised an eyebrow, "Getting away…by sticking around to fight?" he repeated, he looked to Nexel and Nicolas, "Did that make sense to either of you two?" he asked. Neither of them nodded or gave an indication that it did.

Nate mentally admitted that when he thought back to his explanation, it didn't make much sense, so he explained further, "I mean when I couldn't shake them off I had to fight them with a knife I might've had on my person and while they tended to their wounds I'd escape, or on the off chance that they backed me into a corner and I had nowhere else to run." He said.

Gray nodded, "Makes sense about being backed into a corner, though guards would never give up a chase just because of a little knife wound. They're trained to keep fighting and pursuing after getting wounded by another gijinka. Even if we had knives, what could humans like ourselves do?"

"I'm not like other-" Nate stopped talking when Gray gave him an 'Are you seriously going to give me that line?' look.

"My point is, unless their standards for who's qualified to be a guard has dropped over the past few decades, they should've kept pursuing you until they went unconscious from said 'wounds' you gave them or their superior officers gave them new orders." Gray said, "Besides," he said, pausing to take a few more spoonful's of breakfast, "there's always a non-violent way out."

"Oh yeah?" Nate said, not entirely convinced, "I've tried the non-violent ways, and I've got a scar for every single attempt I tried to be non-violent about my escapes has resulted in another scar." He said, "There's always a non-violent method. Unfortunately we live in a world where non-violence rarely works."

Gray chuckled, "Well, that's what happens when you go about it wrong." He said.

Now that comment caught Nate a bit off guard, "Huh? What do you mean?" he asked, slightly confused.

Gray grinned, "That would be telling." He said as he tapped the side of his nose with a finger. "Well, I think that's enough talk for now. You three finish up your breakfast, here's where I take my leave." He said before getting up, taking his bowl, and walking away.

Nate turned to the other two slaves at the table, "Is he always that cryptic?" he asked.

Nexel shrugged, "From when we've seen of him…kinda." He said.

"Good to know." Nate said.

* * *

The alarm rang just as the three of them were finishing their bowls. "So, anything you guys can tell me about how things are run down here?" Nate asked as they stood and joined the march that was beginning to form again.

"There's not much to tell," Nicolas said, "Things are run under a simple unity system. Everyone benefits when things go well, everyone is punished when someone slips up." He explained, "The other slaves think of it as being one big family."

"Hm, I see." Nate said, looking around at all the slaves in the mess hall lining up, and the gijinka overseeing them. It was sickening, the gijinka tricking the slaves into thinking they're a family in order to better control them…classic gijinka behavior. As he looked around, he noticed that a gijinka or two was giving him a not so pleasant look. Which couldn't be good, he had to be on the lookout.

* * *

The slaves walked out of the mess hall into the supply area in a long line that walked by Boomer. As each slave walked past him, he handed them either a pickaxe or a shovel and then they split from the line and made their way towards the lift.

When Nate was given a pickaxe, he looked the tool over. Then he gave it a few test swings.

"What're you doing?" Nate looked to see a guard giving him a suspicious look.

"Just testing the balance of it, that's all. No reason to report or punish me." Nate said in the hopes of reassuring them, the look didn't waver. So Nate went to join the other slaves on the lift.

* * *

…

* * *

After the day was over, while the other slaves ate their supper, Nate was suffering a bit. While Nate did have a bowl of stew in front of him, he didn't have that much of an appetite at the moment. The day's work left him tired and covered in dirt and dust, but that wasn't the cause of his pain. Every time Boomer gave a command, his ears rang, and the multiple commands Boomer gave eventually gave him a headache that would just not go away. He was just happy that he didn't go deaf.

"You alright there Son?" a slightly muffled voice asked.

Nate groaned, "No, one of my greatest assets has turned on me." Nate turned towards it to see Gray. "Seriously, how are you guys not deaf?" Nate asked.

Gray laughed a bit, "Ah, heightened sense of hearing, or just sensitive ears?" he asked, "Well, some slaves in the past have gone deaf and have since been transferred to other sectors. And when it started happening frequently, the guards began giving these to the slaves." He explained as he turned his head to the side so Nate could see the earplugs in his ears, "Military technology from Unova, they muffle loud noises dramatically, but still allow us to hear regular volumes just fine. They're pretty old models, but they do the job well enough."

"Would've been helpful to have a set of those _before_ going to work," Nate said.

Gray chuckled before reaching into the pocket of his coveralls and pulling out a set, "I always carry a few spares on hand for the new miners. Don't worry, they're not used." He said.

Nate accepted the earplugs and pushed them into his ears, wincing as the sting shot through his head as he did so. When they were securely in, he paid attention to the sounds around him. Nothing seemed to have changed, for a second he questioned whether or not he had even put the earplugs in.

"They work, you just won't realize it until Boomer gives his next order." Gray said, "You might want to eat up though, it'll be lights out soon. They don't allow you to continue eating after lights out is called."

Nate nodded and pulled his bowl closer to him and began to chow down, didn't taste nearly as good as breakfast, but he's had worse.

* * *

Nate had just finished the contents of his bowl when he heard an alarm followed by Boomer's voice, "Alright, that's light's out! Everyone to the sleeping area!"

A surge of relief spread throughout Nate's chest and made him feel warm, then he turned to Gray, "Hey, they do work." He said. Gray smiled at him.

* * *

Nate found the sleeping area to be a pretty good size, it looked like there were more than enough room for all the slaves. He saw that most the other slaves were climbing into bed rolls that were set up on the floor. So Nate decided to find a clear place on the floor and lie down. Even through the coveralls and the jacket, the floor sent goose bumps across Nate's skin. He knew there was a chance his body would hate him in the morning, but he had to make due.

* * *

"Nate…what are you doing?"

Nate looked up to see Gray's powerful and tall form looking down at him, "Trying to get comfortable, nobody's sleeping here, right?"

Gray shook his head, "No, but why are you on the floor? You won't find much comfort there." He said. "Come on, on your feet. Let's get you a bedroll." Nate opened his mouth to speak, but Gray cut him off, "I'm very sure you've slept in far more uncomfortable circumstance while on the run, but you had no other choice in those times. So quit being a teen survivor and start being a part of this family before I stuff you into one of those bedrolls myself." He said.

Realizing that Gray was perhaps the last slave he wanted to pick a fight with, he got to his feet pretty quickly. Maybe a bit too quickly when his throbbing headache made a sudden comeback and his stance weakened briefly. "Alright, alright; you win." He said, resigning to Gray's urging, but he felt sorry for Gray. Even _he_ was buying this illusion the Gijinka forced them to be a part of.

"Good," Gray said with a nod, "I swear sometimes you act like you're the angsty protagonist of a book." He said as he began to walk.

* * *

Gray lead Nate to a corner of the room where there were rolled up bedrolls lined up in slots on the wall. Why Nate didn't notice them before, he didn't know. He walked up and stopped right next to Gray and they looked them over. After Gray scanned the slots, he pulled one out, "This should be about the right size. If not, we can always grab a bigger one." He said, handing the bedroll to Nate.

Nate squeezed it a few times, it was smooth, and soft like a Mareep's wool coat. Nate looked to Gray to thank him, but something else caught his eye. A guard was coming towards them, and from the look on their face, Nate didn't think they were looking for a friendly conversation. When the Gijinka was right behind Gray, Nate saw that the guard was beginning to raise their hand. He immediately reacted.

"Look out." Nate said and he forcefully moved Gray out of the way. Then he moved forward and grabbed the Gijinka's wrist, pulled the guard forward directly into his own fist that connected with the guard's shoulder, and then to finish Nate whipped his body around and rammed his elbow into the gijinka's gut. The gijinka wasn't wearing that much armor, the armor that they were wearing didn't cover much. So Nate knew the hits would hurt, at least somewhat.

The sudden combo attack sent the guard reeling back a few steps. Growling, the guard straightened their stance, "So, that's how you wanna go about it?" he said. "Fine, fists." He said, raising his hands.

Nate smirked a bit, "Your mom decided the same thing when I paid her a visit last month." He taunted as he raised his own.

The guard's face went into a deeper rage, "Okay, you were going to pay before, but now you're really going to get what's coming to you!" he said.

Nate's face didn't show it, but he was slightly confused. Before? What did he do? As Nate examined the guard more closely, he thinks he recalled seeing a guard similar to him when he was on the run…Shit.

"Nate." Gray's voice said behind him, "Don't do this, you'll just make it worse."

Nate wanted to say something, but Gray's words had distracted him to the point that the guard took this opportunity to punch Nate in the gut. The blow made Nate double over a bit and then the guard brought his elbow down onto Nate's back, sending him onto all fours. Growling a bit, Nate leapt from his place on the floor and tackled the guard to the ground where they began to wrestle.

Gray saw someone coming out of the corner of his eye and shook his head before pretty much diving into the fray himself and separating the two. He knew what was coming. "Nate, that's enough."

"Not my fault, he-" Nate began to say before a booming voice echoed through the sleeping area.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Boomer shouted as the slaves got out of his way as he marched towards Gray, Nate and the guard.

The guard got out of Nate's grip and came to attention, "I apologize Sir, but I've had some rather unpleasant interactions with this human in the past, ones that landed me into your squad in the first place. I was simply going to tell him that I was going to keep a close eye on him and that I won't tolerate any of those behaviors here, then he attacks me out of nowhere like a wild animal and I saw the need to defend myself." He explained.

Nate couldn't believe what he was hearing, "That is not what happened-"

"SHUT UP SLAVE!" Boomer's voice made everyone jump. He turned to Gray, "Gray, who threw the first connecting blow? Who struck first?" he asked.

Nate began to open his mouth, but Boomer's harsh glare quickly made him close it. So he looked at Gray behind him. Gray looked down at Nate before he exhaled, "It was Nate. The guard had his arm stretched out so he might have been planning to strike, but we don't know for sure because that's when Nate attacked."

Boomer returned his gaze to Nate, "Is this true?" he asked.

"Well, like Gray said, he had his arm stretched out-"

"Is…this…true?" Boomer repeated, "It's a yes or no question."

Nate looked down, somewhat ashamed, "Yes."

Boomer sighed, "Causing problems on your first day. I expected better of you." he said, then he sharped turned and pointed at two guards, "You two. Take the Wild Jacket back to the cages, he will spend the night there," he said before looking back to Nate, "And this little skirmish means that there will be no breakfast in the morning." He said before he walked away.

The two guards were quick to grab Nate's arms and begin to escort him out of the area. Nate kept his head down and tried not to look at anyone else in the room.

* * *

The chain attached to his hands jerked and Khan's nearly unconscious body was yanked out of the water before he was dropped onto the floor. Khan's lungs were on fire as he choked and gagged before a stream of water was forced from his mouth before he broke into another fit of coughs. When the coughing subsided, Khan was left breathing heavily, thankful for those needed gulps of fresh air.

The torturer that had thrown Khan into the Drown Box looked at him like he was a boring exhibit in a museum. The torturer looked to the Mawile guard and hand her the chain, "Throw him back into the cage, he's had his torture for the day."

"Yes, Sir," She said with a slight bow. The tortured returned the bow and walked out of the room. The Mawile then proceeded to walk towards Khan wet and exhausted body. "Alright White Bandanna, back in the cage you go." She said as she began to tug on the chain like a leash. Khan grumbled, but began to shift and move his body.

* * *

The Mawile had just locked Khan back into his cage when the door unlocked and opened to reveal the two guards holding Nate coming into the room.

Khan looked up, "Well, look who's back." He said, he never thought he'd be happy to see Nate so soon. But Nate had just won Khan an extra portion for tomorrow's meal.

The Mawile scowled a little, "Dammit, I lost." She muttered. This was going to be awkward to explain to the kitchens. She opened the doors for the guards and they all but threw Nate inside the cage before they locked it back up again.

Nate got off the floor and into a seating position, then he looked at Khan, "Miss me?" Khan's only response was a slight scoff and an eye roll. "Glad to know I'm so loved." He said, then he noticed Khan was dripping and that there was a puddle around them, "They tried to drown you too?" he asked.

Khan nodded, "Yeah, apparently until the king says otherwise, my punishment is to receive minor torture every day and sleep in the cages. Even after I'm given my assignment." He said.

Nate nodded, "I see," he said, "Well, look on the bright side. You got a free bath out of the ordeal." He said looking over Khan's body, all the grime and first had been washed away, making the minefield that was his skin a lot easier to see, but it also made something else visible. "Now people can see the facial hair you're beginning to grow as well." He said, "I think I'm starting to grow some as well." Nate said as he rubbed his own chin as if to find out if something was there.

Khan ran a hand across the lower half of his face. Sure enough, the rough sandpaper stubble confirmed Nate's words. But Khan didn't say anything and just leaned against the bars and closed his eyes. Almost drowning took a lot out of him and he felt that rest was a very good thing right now.

But of course a familiar noise had had to start scratching, "Are you seriously drawing her again?" Khan asked.

"Yep." He said, not bothering to look over at him.

Khan sighed, "You know, not everyone would approve you being in love with a corpse." He said.

His time, Nate did look over at him, "You just don't get it." he said, "If you knew her, you'd have a better understanding."

"Whatever." Khan said as he pulled the damp bandanna over his eyes. _'But you're wrong, I do know here.'_ he thought to himself before the world around him faded and sleep overtook him.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **Alright, looks like I'll be updating every other week after all.**

 **I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review telling me what you liked about it. Let's see if this chapter can get 5 reviews!**

… **I sound like a YouTuber.**

 **But anyway, see all of you again in two weeks (maybe even one if I get a brilliant streak going).**

 **This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10: Four Years Ago**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

Khan normally wasn't one to look walk down memory lane, but what his dreams showed him were never something he could control, and their favorite thing to show? Memories.

* * *

 _A younger, but still teenaged, Khan wandered the marketplace in Johto; walking around the other gijinka in order to stay out of their way. He didn't entirely succeed when he stepped around one gijinka, only to bump into a guard._

 _The guard looked down at Khan with a stern gaze for a few seconds, Khan tensed his body as if ready to run, "Watch yourself Poochyena." He said gruffly before continuing on his way._

 _Khan breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for the effectiveness of his disguise. He was wearing his white bandana to cover his brand, a convincing set of ears on his head, and a fluffy grey tail, but that was enough convince other people that he was just another gijinka. Sure he looked a bit dirty, but he was young so it wasn't too suspicious. But anyway, he continued to walk. Looking around and being more careful, he needed to find some lunch._

* * *

 _It wasn't long before he spotted something, it was a market stand that was selling fish. The seller looked to be an old fisher that was just shouting about how his fish were freshly caught that morning. Yeah, and Khan's a long lost descendant of Surge._

 _Khan looked around to see if there were any guards coming this way. Nope, they were walking away, perfect. So he made his way over to the stand._

 _The old fisher paid him no mind, either because of his age or because he simply didn't see him, Khan didn't care either way. Khan reached into the satchel he was wearing and pulled out a brown pouch, something he picked off that guard's belt while he was staring him down._

 _He opened and upended the pouch into his hand, three capped black orbs fell onto it. Khan had a slight idea on what these were, but there was only one way to find out for sure. He returned all put one of them to the pouch. Then he lowered his hand, used his thumb to pop the cap, and tossed it in the direction of the stalls on the other side of the street._

 _POW!_

 _Just about everyone within the proximity jumped, some even screamed a little, when a small explosion went off and sent a large cloud of smog into the surrounding area. While everyone turned to look at the smog; Khan grabbed a fish with each hand from the stand and took off._

* * *

 _Khan was now sitting on roof near the edge of the city, he was in a residential area so it wasn't nearly as busy or loud as the market place. The fish he snagged were both resting on some embers with sticks going right through them. He grabbed the two sticks to flip the fish over. The scent and sound of the cooked fish wandered through the air as they were placed down on the embers._

 _After waiting a bit, he took the charred fish off the embers before putting them out with the water in his canteen, causing smoke and white steam to go into the air. Khan set one of the fishes down and began to blow on the one he was still holding. When he was sure it was cool enough, he began his feast. He didn't have really any spices or seasonings to give it any additional flavor, but beggars can't be choosers._

* * *

 _He was finishing his first fish when the he saw five guards, four privates – or cadets Khan couldn't be sure – and an enforcer, with a prisoner's carriage behind them come down the road. Were the guards arresting someone from their home? Now that was something interesting. Khan watched the guards as they went past him. He felt tempted to follow them, but the guards' business wasn't his own so he just stayed put and picked up his second fish._

 _When Khan had finished eating the head, he heard something that sounded like an explosion. Khan whipped his head towards the sound and saw that one of the houses just down the road had smoke coming from it…Okay Khan did not want to miss this. He has a meal, might as well get a show too._

* * *

 _After running across a couple rooftops, Khan was on the roof of the house right across from the one that had been smoking. The lower ranked guards were escorting two gijinka out of the house, two guards for each one._

 _The first gijinka was male, and had a very tall and powerful muscle bound build and there were black stripe-like tattoos on his arms. Khan figured that if he chose to, he could easily fight off those guards and escape. His hair was tan with orange roots, but was beginning to go gray. Khan couldn't really see his face, all he could really fell is that the gijinka had a grey goatee. And from the large bushy tail and the striped tattoos, Khan figured that he was an Arcanine._

 _Now the second gijinka was a female, his wife maybe? And was clearly a Ninetales, the muking nine tails flowing out behind her made that a bit obvious. She wasn't nearly as tall as her husband or as well built, but her body was curvy…Khan wasn't sure why he was making that observation, but whatever. She had long cream colored hair and, like with the first, Khan couldn't entirely make out the features of her face._

 _The enforcer walked out of the house, and khan immediately noticed that a large portion of the enforcer's jacket was charred as if it had been on fire. So maybe that was the explosion from earlier?_

 _As the guards loaded the two gijinka into the prisoner's carriage, the enforcer began to speak, "I didn't want to do this Matt, you served valiantly when you were on the force. But you know the laws, and breaking them has consequences."_

 _The Arcanine, apparently named Matt, didn't say anything as he sat down. He leaned his head back against the bars, but then Matt seemed to notice something…Was he looking at Khan?_

 _The enforcer seemed to notice Matt's gaze, so he followed it to see khan, "Get out of here you damn stray, this is guard business." He said. Khan immediately ducked out of sight, but listened close. "You saw which way those humans ran, right?"_

 _Khan froze a bit at that statement, humans? ...did that mean that there were other escaped slaves?_

" _That's right, they made a break for the forest." An unfamiliar voice spoke._

" _Good, go and scout ahead. Take them down if you have to. We're gathering a squad to go after them as well." The enforcer said. "They were meant to receive the caravan that was coming through next week, but a little pursuit wouldn't do them any harm."_

" _Leave them alone, they've done nothing-" a female voice, probably the Ninetales', all but shouted._

 _The enforcer cut her off, "Allie, the law is the law." So her name was Allie?_

" _It will be done, Sir." The scout said, Khan heard footsteps and Khan looked over the ledge to see the scout – a grass type from the look of him – running beyond the city limits and into the forest that was outside the town._

 _Khan knew this decision may result in his death, or worse recapture, but after what those guards said…he just had to see if it was true. He had seen the scout go ahead and was quick to follow._

* * *

 _The scout was faster than him by a good deal, but Khan made sure that he never lost sight of him. He knew that they must've been close to who the guard was pursuing when the gijinka stopped._

 _Khan wasn't sure why the gijinka stopped, but he got his answer when the scout raised a hand and seeds began to spin around his hand before one was shot into the forest. Khan used this opportunity to close the distance between him and the gijinka the best he could._

 _The gijinka seemed to hit something because he laughed a bit, "Ha, got the bitch." he said proudly to himself. But his proud moment seemed to be short lived, "Now the bastard's carrying her...no matter. It'll be easier to catch up with-"_

 _The guard didn't get to finish his sentence because it was then that Khan wrapped his arm around the guard's neck and began to choke him. The element of surprise gave Khan a bit of help, but it wasn't long before the gijinka began to fight back._

 _Khan grunted as the guard's elbow went into his chest and hurting his ribs, but he kept squeezing. Khan barely held on when the Guard slammed his back, and Khan, into the tree next to him. Khan wheezed a little as the air was forced out of his lungs._

 _The guard seemed close to breaking free, so Khan resorted to more crude and drastic measures. He slightly let go, readjusted his stance and sent his knee between the gijinka's legs._

 _As the ancients used to say, the move was super effective._

 _The impact caused the guard to fall to his knees, Khan took advantage of this and dropped his elbow into the crook of the Guard's neck and shoved his body into a nearby tree and the Gijinka slumped to the grassy ground unconscious._

 _Khan breathed heavily, allowing air to fill his lungs, wincing at the pulsing ache in his ribs. He knew they were bruised, he just hoped they weren't broken. But he sucked it up and turned back to the direction the guard had been going. A bitch and a bastard...a female and a male; ignoring the fire in his lungs and the aching in his ribcage, he kept moving._

 _He had traveled about ten yards before he stopped. Khan kneeled down and ran a hand across the discolored grass. One look at the crimson color and he knew exactly what it was; blood. He saw that there was a trail leading him in. So he followed it._

* * *

 _Khan was following the trail when he heard it, an echoing cry of anguish that made him jump. He had a good idea about what must've happened, but he didn't try to think about it. He looked behind him, the rest of the search party had to have heard that and knew to come this way. He had to move._

 _Khan went quicker, not really paying attention to the trail and just went in the general direction it was leading him. He didn't stop until he saw it, a female lying on the forest floor. He rushed to the female's side and began to look her over. There was a bloody hole in her upper stomach just below her…developed chest. It must've been the exit hole from when the bullet seed left her body. Khan looked at the girl's head and brushed some of her brown hair away to look at her face, she was surprisingly clean for an escaped slave. Khan had to admit…she was really pretty too- Khan what are you doing? There must be something weird in the Johto air or something._

 _He put a hand on her neck for half a minute and then pressed his ear to her chest._

 _"Alive," Khan muttered, "but only just." he added before raising his head and looked around for any signs of the male that she was with, "She must have encouraged him to leave her behind and went unconscious, the male cried thinking she died." he concluded. He once again looked behind him, he couldn't hear the Gijinka, but knew that they were getting closer. He returned his gaze back to the girl, "I hope I don't live to regret this." he said as if the girl could hear her._

 _He untied the bandanna around his head, balled it up and wiped up some of the blood before pressing it into the exit wound to stall the blood flow. Then he gently picked her up bridal style and went carried her off in a direction he hoped was away from the Gijinka._

* * *

 _Khan wasn't sure how long he had been carrying this girl, but it was long enough that he had gotten them out of the forest, and to a more mountainous part of the region. Khan looked around, this was good. There's bound to be caves in these mountains, if he could find a cave that was a good distance from ground level, it could make for a decent shelter. Then he looked down and the girl in his arms, then back at the mountains._

 _How was he going to climb while holding this wounded girl?_

* * *

 _Well, it took some improvisation with some rope and an old sheet he had in his satchel, but he managed to scale the mountain and come to a cave that was a good enough size. After going inside, Khan laid the girl on the ground. Then he took his satchel off and looked inside it. He pulled out some wraps, some stuffing and a few other items._

 _They weren't exactly medical supplies…but he had to make due._

* * *

 _Khan was leaning against the cave wall, resting his face in one of his blood-covered hands, and couldn't care less. He looked up from his hand at the girl opposite him. The clothes above the wounded area had been cut open and there was now a crude makeshift bandage covering both the exit and entry wound._

"… _what the muk am I doing?" he muttered to himself. "I'm a survivor, not a medic or a caregiver." He nearly shouted to himself before letting out a frustrated sigh. Khan sat down and began to think. Maybe he could…no, too far away. He highly doubted that she'd be able to survive the trip._

 _After thinking for a minute, Khan came to a decision. He'd already saved the girl from the Gijinka. If she was going to die, Khan would have at least tried. But he was going to need more supplies. He thought back to what that enforcer mentioned. A caravan was coming next week._

" _Next w_ _eek," he repeated to himself as he looked at the girl, "Hopefully you'll stay alive for that long." This couldn't be that hard…could it?_

* * *

 _Muk…muk muk muk muk muk muk shit MUK!_

 _Khan looked calm on the outside, but was honestly freaking out on the inside. He was currently dabbing the girl's forehead with a cold and wet cloth. Her skin was unbelievable pale, except for her face that was flushed and glistened with sweat. Not only that, the girl's expression didn't look like she was having a pleasant time and her breathing was slightly shaky._

 _For the past few days, things were…basic. Every few hours Khan would give her water, and since she couldn't do much chewing, he had to keep her on a liquid-based diet by feeding her berry juice and hoping she was getting enough nutrients from them. Things got awkward when Khan found out just how different the girl's body was from his when he had to…well let's just say that nature had been doing a lot of calling and Khan was on clean up duty._

 _He doesn't want to think about the process; or the bizarre churning that was going on in his chest and stomach. Again he blamed the Johto air, but other than that it wasn't too much for Khan to handle._

 _But she just had to get sick, now of all times. Khan wasn't a doctor, but he didn't think she could survive like this. She needed medicine, but Khan didn't know if he could risk leaving her to get medicine from a caravan that may not even be there. So Khan was kinda caught between a rock and a hard place._

 _He grabbed his canteen, poured more cold water onto the towel and placed it on her forehead. Khan placed a hand on the girl's cheek, her skin felt like it was on fire. Khan then looked to the bandage around her torso, she didn't just need the medicine, and she needed a fresh bandage as well. Khan didn't want to check, but he was pretty sure her sickness was caused by an infected wound._

 _The girl seemed to respond to Khan's touch and seemed to lean into his hand, his touch actually seemed to put her slightly at peace._

"… _Muk it." Khan said, standing up, "The caravan is close enough. Just try to stay alive for another day." He said before he picked up his satchel, and left the cave._

* * *

 _Yep, Khan was right. He was hidden in the trees next to a road that was cutting through the forest. It was the perfect location for an ambush. He had done some scouting and spotted the caravan. He counted four gijinka, one special attacker and three physical attackers. All of them were traders, not fighters. The guard squad must not have arrived yet. After learning what he needed, he ran ahead to his current location, and now he began to prepare._

 _As he did so, Khan closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. With each breath, a feeling inside of him got stronger and stronger. Even though he's felt this so many times before, he could still only use one word to describe it;_ _ **dark**_ _. His body shuddered when the feeling spread throughout his body. When Khan opened his eyes, they had a different feel to them, almost like the colors in his irises were moving and shifting._

" _Time to get to work," Khan muttered as he tied his bandanna around his head so that it covered the lower half of his face._

* * *

 _The Delibird gijinka was leading riding atop a Mudsdale. Upon seeing what was ahead, he raised his hand and brought everything behind him to a stop. There was a tree that had fallen over and was blocking the path._

 _It was strange, there hadn't been any storms recently, but they had a deadline to meet and didn't have time to question it. He turned to one of the fighting types, a Machoke, walking behind him, "Smalls, go clear that tree, and be quick about it."_

 _The Machoke, or Smalls, nodded his head and immediately went forward towards the free. When he was only a few yards away from the fallen tree, his foot caught on something and he was suddenly falling flat onto the ground._

" _What the?" Smalls asked as he turned back to grab what he tripped over. He held it up and the Delibird could clearly see it was a thin rope._

 _The Delibird was confused, but then faint popping sounds reached his ears and his eyes widened as he looked at the trees around them. There was a section at the bottom of the trees that was giving off very thin trails of smoke, "It's a raid, form ranks and defend!" he said before the small explosions went off and sent smog into the area._

 _The sudden noise and smog frightened the Mudsdale to the point that it reared itself onto its hind legs with such momentum that it threw the gijinka off its back. And in its fear-driven state, it bucked about a few times before running off into the forest._

 _And the smog began to spread; Smalls got up and began to look around. Amongst the smog he saw a faded silhouette climb over the fallen tree. "I see the raider, they're over here!" The two other gijinka looked in the direction of Smalls' voice and rushed to give him support._

* * *

 _As Khan got on top of the tree, he quickly saw the Machoke through the smog due to how close he was. Taking the opportunity he pushed off the tree with his legs and shot himself forward like a Pin Missile. He tucked his head and tensed up his body before his should hit something similar to a sand-filled punching bag. Khan heard an "Oof!" followed by a thud and was quick to move to the gijinka and grab his head before slamming it onto the forest floor. The Machoke's eyes rolled back and went limp due to unconsciousness._

 _Khan personally thought that fight was way too easy. He also wasn't sure if the Machoke's head was bleeding or not, but before he got a chance to check, a force rammed into him, tackling him off the Machoke and sending him to the ground._

 _Khan and his new opponent grappled and wrestled on the ground. He had Khan pinned to the ground and was ready to deck his lights out. But as the gijinka raised a fist, Khan saw an opportunity. With only one hand pinning him down, he was able to strike the gijinka in the ribs under his armpit. The impact shifted the gijinka to the side enough to allow Khan. To get out from under the gijinka, grab their arm, and twist it so that it was behind their back._

" _Gah, a little help?!" The gijinka said through clenched teeth. Khan looked and saw another gijinka coming through the smog towards him._

" _Great," Khan muttered under his breath as he readjusted his stance and used both his hand to tightly grab the gijinka's arm, "You sure you're a fighting-type?" Khan asked the gijinka, "You struck me more as a flying-type." He said before summoning all his body strength and twisted his body as he threw the gijinka._

" _What the-" The oncoming gijinka didn't get to finish his thought before the airborne gijinka slammed into him and knocked him off his feet._

 _Khan didn't wait to see whether or not the collision knocked them out, he ran to where the two gijinka landed, grabbed their heads, and slammed them together before dropping them and letting them fall back to the ground. That was when the wind started to pick up._

 _The wind started the pull the smog away and Khan looked in the same direction it was going. The smog seemed to be swirling around in some spinning vortex. It whistled in Khan's ears before it suddenly stopped, then the smog dispersed in a large just of cold air that made Khan backpedal a few steps._

 _When he regained his balance, Khan saw that all the smoke has been cleared, and the Delibird was standing where the smog originally was. The Delibird spotted Khan and narrowed his eyes, "There you are." He said as large and sharp ice shard began to form and spin around his hands._

" _Shit." Khan said, before diving to the side to avoid the flurry of Ice Shards. After rolling to his feet, he ran towards the Delibird at full speed. There was a tree behind him, something Khan could use._

 _The gijinka generated more Ice Shards and shot them at him. Khan moved to dodge them and closed the remaining distance and tackled the Delibird and slamming him into the tree behind him. The impact sent the gijinka into a daze, allowing Khan to breathe a bit._

 _Khan then reached for his shoulder and grabbed the Ice Shard sticking out of it. Khan clenched his teeth before pulling it out, ignoring the warm and wet flow that was coming out of his shoulder, he used the shard to pin the gijinka to the tree. The gijinka seemed close to be coming out of his daze._

" _It's nothing personal," Khan muttered through his bandana, "Even if that shard did hurt like hell."_

 _The gijinka looked at Khan with a venomous glare, "Go to hell." He said before taking in a deep breath and blew a massive Frost Breath right into Khan's face._

 _When the Delibird stopped, the frosty fog faded to reveal that Khan's bandana had a layer of ice crystals on it, his eyes were clenched shut with frost on his eyebrows, and his bangs had been blown back and held in place by the frost. And the venom in the gijinka's eyes went away when he saw Khan's forehead. There it was, clear as day, the pokeball brand and the number 130666._

" _You're…a_ _ **human**_ _?" he asked out of complete shock._

 _Khan's eyes snapped open, his heterochromatic irises darker than before, "Now it's personal." He said before slamming his head into the gijinka's face. A snap was heard and the gijinka slumped to the ground, his clothes held up by the shard._

 _Khan took a few steps back as a hand went to his forehead, "Note to self…never do that again." He muttered as he winced from the pulsing coming from his brand. But he shook it off as the dark feeling went away, then his body slouched a bit as he could now fully able to feel his pain and exhaustion, but he shook it off. He took care of the gijinka, now to search the caravan._

* * *

 _Khan had hit the jackpot, not only did he find the medical supplies and medicine, but there was enough food for him to not have to leave her again and not take another risk like this again for another month at the minimum. He may have to do more raids, but he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. For now he needed to get these supplies back to the cave…now which way did that Mudsdale run?_

* * *

 _Over the next few months, Khan had a new routine, while he still took care of the girl, now he at least didn't have to go out and look for berries. In addition to that, he also had to go out feed that Mudsdale, it was a massive score and could really benefit him long term._

 _The girl's wound had been properly sealed and eventually did heal after a month, but he still kept the bandage on her the infections and sicknesses still came around. So every few weeks Khan had to go and raid another caravan, risking getting recaptured and getting injuries after every raid, but that didn't stop him. The girl wasn't waking up, but Khan knew that she was recovering._

 _Though throughout the past couple of months, Khan had gotten some major scares when the girl started bleeding from…for no reason. It started one day and lasted for a couple before just stopping. Khan was very stressed that week, and entirely confused when it stopped. At least it was over…which was what Khan thought until it happened nearly a month later. It was just confusing to him, if she woke up he would question her if she knew anything about it._

* * *

 _Khan was returning from a raid on the back of Mudsdale, he had considering naming the Mudsdale, but he couldn't really think of one so he gave up trying, Mudsdale had been a massive help transporting him to and back from the raids. Now this last raid was an interesting one; there were some actual guards protecting this one, and the gijinka called him 'the White Bandana'. Apparently these raids had earned him a title. At least it wasn't something stupid like 'Two-Eyed Escapee' or 'Roughskin Rogue' or 'Raven Raider'…Okay Khan had to admit that last one sounded pretty badass._

 _After tying up Mudsdale and sling the supplies he got from that day's raid across his back, he began to climb up to the cave. As he was climbing, he heard an unfamiliar noise…a female voice?_

… _she's awake!_

 _Khan began to climb faster and as he climbed over the ledge, he could see that the girl was stirring. Seemingly noticing his presence, she began to stir even more. She looked like she was trying to get up_

 _After putting the supplies down, he almost rushed to the girl and knelt by her side. He put a hand on her shoulder, "Take it easy, try not to move." He said, "You lost a lot of blood, and as a result you've been asleep for a long time, a few months in fact. So you're still pretty weak."_

 _The girl looked at him, it was the first time he saw her eyes, they were a bright blue, "Who are…you're not…" her voice was weak from not being used, but Khan could still hear the sadness and disappointment. Chances are she thought the he was the male she escaped with._

" _Sorry to disappoint," Khan said, her comment kinda hurt, he had no idea why though, "I'm Khan Kensaki, and I'm the reason you're still alive." He said, he admitted it sounded a bit arrogant, but it was the truth, "And you are?"_

 _The girl hesitated a bit before speaking in her weakened voice, "Schmidt, Carol Schmidt."_

 _Khan nodded, glad to know her name; it meant he could stopped referring to her as 'the girl', "Well Carol, I feel that you waking up calls for a small celebration. How about something to eat?"_

* * *

 _During the following month after Carol woke up, taking care of her wasn't as much of a problem. She would say when she needed something and Khan no longer had to keep her on a liquid only diet. But that didn't mean things got easy, Khan learned something about Carol about week after she woke up…_

* * *

" _Hey Khan," Carol asked, her voice much stronger than when she first woke up. She was sitting up and eating a meal khan had prepared for her. She could move her upper body without much assistance, but she was still too weak to walk, "I have a question."_

 _Khan was sitting across from her, eating his own meal, "Well, I'm pretty sure I have some kind of an answer." He said, not really bothering to look at her._

" _You said that I had been unconscious for several months and you kept me on a liquid only diet, right?" she asked, Khan nodded, "Well, then why aren't my clothes and underwear stained from piss and all that crap?"_

 _Khan froze and for a brief second his body was tense, "Umm…" he said before continuing to eat, heat building in his cheeks, "Good question." He said, not wanting to look at her._

 _Carol gave a bemused grin, "You know Khan, I think nature is calling my name. And since my legs aren't back to full strength-"_

 _Khan's face might as well been on fire, "I think I'll go feed Mudsdale." Khan said, putting his food down before getting up and walking towards the entrance. He could hear Carol giggling behind him._

* * *

… _she was a massive troll._

 _And that wasn't the first instance that Carol almost showed off this trait about herself. When Khan had questioned her about the bleeding, she scared Khan with a well-performed freak out, then laughed and explained to him what periods were…which lead to an awkward explanation about the Farfetch'd and the Combee._

 _When Carol was able to walk, even if she still needed some support, Khan and Carol packed up their remaining supplies and attached them to Mudsdale before they began traveling again. Khan was almost sad to leave the cave that had pretty much been his home the past few months…almost. To be honest Khan hating staying in one place for this long. Now it was back to being on the run, and now that he had a title…he was going to need to be more careful until things die down._

* * *

" _You're kinda doing it wrong."_

 _Khan looked up from the fire he was trying to light, "Pardon me?" he asked._

 _Carol was watching him, "Sorry, it's just…Nate did it rather differently."_

 _Now this was the first time Carol had said that name, "I'm guessing this Nate was the male you escaped those guards with?"_

 _Carol nodded, "He's my boyfriend."_

" _Well, congratulations. Oh wait, I don't care." Khan said before he went back to lighting the fire, "C'mon…light dammit." He said, as if response to his words, a small flame appeared and began to spread across the other pieces of wood. "Hm, there must've been a hidden spark or ember I didn't see under there."_

" _Nate's way would've lit it faster." Carol muttered, but Khan heard her quite clearly. He hoped that he wouldn't be hearing much about this Nate._

* * *

… _Turns out, Carol couldn't really seem to shut up about Nate, and the more he learned, the more he seemed to hate the guy. Apparently he had a fair share of survival skills, and just about all of them conflicted with his own; everything from fire building to choosing an appropriate shelter when predicting the weather of that night._

 _Khan would've just ignored it if it was just the survival skills, because he knows that there are several methods. He just couldn't stand how Carol seemed to over-glorify this guy, she would go on to Mudsdale about how madly in love she was as if she would never find another love like him as if Khan wasn't there to hear everything she said. That Tauros shit was just sickening._

* * *

" _You sure you don't need any help?" Carol asked with concern, "Salac berry bushes have lots of thorns in them."_

" _I'll live." Khan said, his arm almost elbow deep inside a bush. Salac berries were incredibly sweet and hard to come by, but they were only near the center of the bush they grew in. Well Khan said bush, but thorny bramble would be a better term to describe it. As he felt the somewhat bumpy skin of the berry, he went to grab it, "And, in case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly care if I get a few cuts and scrapes." He said referring to his skin, which, even in his early teens, still had several scars._

" _I know," Carol said, still a bit concerned, "It's just that Nate-"_

" _AUGH!" Khan shouted from pain, "Arceus dammit!" He swore as he pulled his arm out of the bush, there was a long scratch going down his forearm and it was beginning to bleed._

 _Within just one second, Carol with at his side, "Are you hurt?"_

 _Khan almost rolled his eyes, "No, I'm perfectly fine and dandy. I just like to scream in pain just for the heck of it." he said, you'd have to be brainless not to detect the sarcasm._

" _Okay now is not the time for that." Carol said before she opened the satchel – which she was wearing – and began to look for their bandages. She muttered something under her breath, but Khan had a pretty good idea what she said._

" _Yeah, maybe you're right. Nate's method would've made things go way differently." Khan muttered._

 _Carol looked at Khan, "That wasn't what I-"_

 _Khan cut her off, because he had just had enough, "Want to know what else he did differently?" he asked, he didn't give her any time to answer, "Left your unconscious near dead body in the middle of the muking forest for the Gijinka to collect. He didn't carry you out of there and risk their neck every other day because of the slightest chance you recovered and the effort wasn't all for nothing, Arceus!" Khan ranted, "He does things his way, I do them my way and they're the reason I've survive for this long, and those methods are the reason for why you're alive period." He said._

 _Carol was silent for a second before she countered him, "The only reason he left me was because I told him too." She said, "I knew I would only slow him down and I couldn't live with myself knowing he got captured or killed because of me. He's too good and too kind to be caged and treated like filth... like I was."_

 _Khan scoffed, "Too good and too kind." He repeated in almost a mocking voice, "What a load of shit, I'm guessing he also builds homes for the homeless and feeds orphans on the weekends?" he asked. "Being too good and too kind isn't possible, if he really loved you as much as you said he does, which isn't likely, you'd think he would've at least tried to keep you alive."_

" _He thought I was dead, and what do you mean 'isn't likely'?" Carol asked, "He told me himself how much he-"_

" _Oh yeah, I'm sure it's easy to love someone when they're your only option." Khan said, "If I lived in a house full of gijinka and the only other human slave in the house was a female close to my age, chances are I'd fall for her too." He said, "Anyway, this conversation is over." He said as he walked back to Mudsdale to give him the berry, not really caring about the scratch on his forearm._

* * *

 _Khan and Carol didn't really speak to each other for a few days after than conversation, but things shifted back to how they were before. They had been together for six months, though three of them were when Carol was unconscious, before Carol brought up the inevitable._

* * *

" _Khan…I think it's time we went our separate ways." Carol brought up one day was they were packing up their camp one morning._

 _Khan stopped, but it was only for a brief amount of time before he continued, "I'm surprised it's taking you this long to bring it up. You've been able to walk on your own for the past month." He said._

 _Carol rolled her eyes a bit, "So eager to get rid of me, are you?" she asked. "I just think I should try to reunite with Nate and start looking for him."_

" _I figured that's what you were going to do." Khan said as he finished placing the supplies in his bag, "Makes sense, but I hope you realize that there's a very good chance he's left the region. It could be years before you find him, and even if you do, there's a pretty good chance he'll have moved on by then; considering the fact that he thinks you're dead."_

" _Thanks for the vote of confidence." Carol said with a hit of sarcasm._

 _Khan knew from the lack of a comeback that she had considered the points he brought up, "But hey," he said looking over at her, "If that's what you want to do. I can't really do much to stop you." Carol gave him a smile, and Khan felt one of the corners of his mouth twitch…this Johto air was weird._

* * *

 _After they finished cleaning up camp, it was time to say goodbye._

" _Good luck out there." Khan said as he handed her a pack that he had packed for her, "It's a big world full of danger, so take care of yourself. In the pack are enough supplies and dried food rations to last you a few weeks, there's also a cloak in there that you can use as either a blanket or to shield yourself from the weather, it looks like it's going to rain soon."_

" _You might want to be careful there Khan," Carol said, "I might start believing that you care."_

" _Well, we wouldn't want that," Khan said, "I've also included a hand drawn map to a safe location right here in Johto. You don't have to go there, but still. You also might have to go through some villages and towns, so there's also a disguise in there to make you look like a Buneary gijinka."_

 _Carol nodded, "Look, I want to thank you for taking care of me for this long, and you're right. If not for you, I would be dead or back in the hands of the gijinka." She said. "And I also want to say I'm sorry for being an annoyance."_

 _Khan shook his head a bit, "Well, you never made me regret saving you, so you weren't that much of a nuisance." He said._

 _Carol shouldered the pack, "Do you think we'll see each other again after this?" she asked. "I'd love to introduce you to Nate one day."_

 _Khan shrugged, "Probably not, plus I don't think we'd get along." he said, "Like I said, it's a big world, and there's always a good chance of death."_

 _Carol gave a half smile, "Aren't you just a little ray of sunshine." she said. "Well, until next time White Bandana." She said. Khan gave her a nod before she turned around and began to walk away._

 _As Khan watched her leave, he felt a clenching and painful feeling in his chest. "Carol, wait!" he suddenly called out._

 _Carol was slightly surprised, and also a bit confused, at Khan's outburst. She turned around to see Khan catching up to her with Mudsdale by his side. "Yes?" she asked._

 _Khan stopped in front of her, "I want you to take Mudsdale with you." he said._

 _Carol's eyes widened from shock, "What? But I couldn't, he's-"_

 _Khan held up a hand to silence her, "Mudsdale has been a massive help, but you need him more than I do." He said as he held out the reins to her._

 _Carol didn't immediately take them; instead she stepped forward and hugged Khan tightly. Now it was Khan's turn to be a bit surprised, he really didn't know what to do in this situation. So he just followed his instincts and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her._

 _Carol broke the hug and took a step back, "Sorry, don't know what came over me there." She said as she took the reins from him, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of Mudsdale." She said._

 _Khan nodded before helping Carol mount Mudsdale, "If you decide to go to that safe location, your first stop is in that direction." Khan said pointing, "Farewell Carol." He said._

 _Carol gave him one more smile, "Bye Khan, and thanks again." She said before flicking Mudsdale's reins and riding off in the direction Khan pointed in._

* * *

 _As Khan watched her ride off, a soft thunder rumbled above him. Then a raindrop fell, followed by a few more and became a drizzle. Then it wasn't long before a drizzle became a downpour. But Khan didn't move for a couple more minutes before turning and walking in a different direction. His hair was flat against his head and raindrops ran down his face._

 _Strange…some of them tasted salty._

* * *

Khan eyes opened as the flashback came to an end and woke up. He was back in the cage and Nate was across from him on the other side sleeping, he also didn't look like he was having a pleasant sleep; probably a nightmare or something like that.

What Carol saw in him, Khan would never know.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **Alright guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Looks like we got a little backstory on are dear protagonist Khan. What did you guys think?**

 **I'm still hoping that more of you guys will review, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the people that already do. You guys are awesome. I just want to hear more from you guys.**

 **Until next week(or probably the week after), this is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: New Assignments and A New Scar**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

Just as Khan was settling back down to fall asleep again, Nate screamed as he bolted upright and now wide awake. He was breathing heavily and looked around as if he couldn't remember where he was.

When Nate looked over at Khan, he quickly took notice that he was awake, "Sorry, nightmares."

"You didn't wake me up." Khan said, "You just stopped me from going back to sleep."

Nate's expression became slightly curious, "And why were you awake?"

"Same as you, for the most part." Khan answered. "Memories of the past like to bite me in the ass during the night."

Nate nodded in agreement, "Yeah, actually, there's something I've been meaning to ask?"

Khan sighed, "I have a feeling you're going to ask even if I don't want to hear it." he grumbled.

Nate nodded, "You know all that talk about you being the most broken human in the world?" he asked.

"I don't recall ever saying that." Khan said before he pulled the bandana back over his eyes and leaned back against the bars of the cage.

"Hey, that's way too vague of an answer and I wasn't finished." Nate said, Khan didn't respond, "Oh c'mon no one falls asleep that fast…Khan?" Still nothing… "White Bandanna? C'mon, say something Khanny-Boy."

Nate wasn't sure what happened, one second he was looking at Khan's 'sleeping' form, the next Khan was slamming him against the cage wall, his eyes burning with the same darkened rage as before.

"Don't call me that," He said in a cold, dark tone, "And if you know what's good for you, you'll never call me that again." He said

"Okay okay," Nate said before Khan released him and returning to his spot, "Geez, take a chill pill or something, Arceus."

Nate was a bit more shocked than intimidated at the sudden attack. There it was, that dark side again. What did he say to trigger him, Khanny-Boy?…was it a nickname he had before escaping? Maybe something his siblings used to call him, if he had any at all? What was it about family that triggered Khan so much? Nate knows that Khan's parents were killed because of him…but there had to be more to this.

Also, either Khan was extremely fast, or Nate was losing his reflexive edge…personally he hoped that Khan was just extremely fast.

* * *

When the next morning came, the guards collected Nate and brought him out of the room. Leaving Khan in the room with the Mawile guard. After the guards closed the door behind them, it was silent for a bit.

"…Same stakes?" the Mawile asked.

Khan liked this guard's thinking, "I'll give him a week this time around." Khan said.

The Mawile smiled, "Fine, I'll bet longer." She said.

Khan shrugged, "Alright, still waiting on today's extra portion."

* * *

Nate didn't say anything as the guards escorted him down to the mines. Instead he was mentally preparing himself for what he was in for. Because of what happened yesterday, everyone was going to do they day's work without breakfast. Sure Gray said he was a part of the family now, but it didn't look like he was going to be the favorite member.

They brought him to the large door and gave it a knock.

It was Boomer that answered the door. Nate could see the slaves over Boomer's shoulder. The miners walked in the same lines and formations as yesterday, but they were noticeably weaker in stance with slumped shoulders and tired expressions.

Boomer regarded Nate with a neutral expression, "Just in time, the others just woke up." He said. "Let's have you join the others."

* * *

The slaves weren't working nearly as efficiently as they were yesterday, not many of them seemed to have the strength to even lift their pickaxes, much less use them in the mine. The guards, which usually just stood and watched, had to constantly patrol and crack a Vine Whip or Power Whip above them whenever they saw some of the slaves dozing off. Never actually hitting them, but still giving a distinct message.

* * *

After a while of attempting to work as hard as they usually do, Boomer's loud voice sounded, "Alright that's enough. I'll give you 20 minutes to rest, but then it's back to work." He said.

Just about all the slaves relaxed as they let out a sigh of relief, Nate included. He liked to think that he was in pretty good shape, but this kind of labor without breakfast was brutal and even more exhausting. Really he was just glad none of the other slaves had treated him any different, but then again they may have been too tired or hungry to do so.

"And now you see why some aspects of your behavior isn't well of." Nate looked towards the voice to see Gray, "Have a seat and savor your break, we won't have another one for a couple hours minimum." He said as he sat down. Nate was quick to plop down next to him.

"I'm sorry about what I did yesterday, this is all my fault." Nate said.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, you made a likely assumption and acted on it. Unfortunately you just couldn't wait until the guard struck first." Gray said.

Nate looked over at Gray, "Would it have made things better?"

Gray shrugged, "Perhaps, the guard would've been attacking a slave without reason in Boomer's eyes. You fighting back still would've landed you in the cages, but the going without breakfast would be up for debate."

"So what?" Nate asked, "I should just do nothing and let them push me around?"

"I didn't say that, but if that's how you see it." Gray said, "There are just more important things, like the wellbeing of this family."

Nate sighed, "You seriously don't believe that, do you?" Nate asked.

Gray raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry?" he asked, somewhat confused.

Nate gestured around the two of them, "This, this illusion the gijinka have tricked you into believing." He said, "They force this unity system on you and make you think you're a family so you'll be easier to control. It's sick."

"Hm," Gray said, seeming to ponder the thought, "You do have a point there, and that would make sense." Gray said, "But you're wrong, it wasn't the gijinka that enforced this unity system upon us…It was me."

Nate was shocked, "Okay…what?" he asked.

Gray nodded, "The mines didn't always have the unity system, but then I arrived here over 30 years ago." He explained, "I was young and had just been separated from my love and only son, who probably has his own kids by now, and I was in constant suffering from missing them both." He said, his eyes looking a bit dewy, "But I had to remain strong, in case one day I was lucky enough to make it back to them. I couldn't show weakness."

Some of this was sounding familiar to Nate, though he dismissed the feeling think he was probably just relating to his words.

Gray continued his story, "In the eyes of my supervisor and the guards, I was a pretty interesting case. I would always take punishments for my fellow slaves or endure the punishment with them. When they were denied a meal, I refused to eat. If they were whipped, I made sure that I was too." He explained, "I didn't want anyone to suffer alone, and my example inspired others. Eventually the supervisor at the time enforced the unity system."

"Wow…so I was wrong." Nate said, "But I still don't get why you didn't fight back against the gijinka if you guys were unified."

Gray nodded, "Some of the younger ones wanted to, but I kept them from doing anything stupid. The last thing we want is a massacre. The gijinka wield tremendous destructive power and only a fool would want to challenge it with only mining tools." He explained, "Unfortunately some of the more rebellious ones were transferred to another mine a little over a decade ago…and I really hope they didn't take those thoughts of rebellion with them." Gray said before getting up, "Rest and conserve your energy, I need to check on the more exhausted ones." He said before getting up walking away. Nate decided to take Gray's advice and savor this break Boomer gave them.

* * *

The stables weren't overly busy that day, but then again they never were. All they had to do was feed, groom, and maintain the needs of the livestock in the stables.

One such slave was the scrawny young newbie; Broehain. He was on grooming duty and trying to groom a Mudsdale, really he could only try because the Mudsdale was almost twice his height and he didn't have access to a stool seeing as they were already in use. So at best he could only reach the beginning of the Mudsdale's back curve.

He was working on the Mudsdale's hide with a brush, while another more taller slave worked on its mane. Unfortunately they hit a knot and tugged a little hard.

"Dale!" the Mudsdale cried out before rearing up.

Broehain let out a yelp as he jumped back and fell backwards, he would've probably landed on his rear, but he bumped into something that stopped his fall and held him in place, "Whoa there," Broehain tilted his head back to see Riet looking down at him, "A little jumpy aren't you?"

"Hey no slacking!" The supervisor said, "Mother of Arceus, that's the third time in the past two hours. If you can't handle being around the big ones then maybe a coward like you belongs in the shearing section." He said before pointing to Riet, "Do something useful and bring him to the Mareep pens."

Riet looked at the supervisor, and didn't immediately respond, "…Yes, Sir." She said with a frown. The supervisor only scoffed and continued to another section of the stables. Riet did a quick look around to make sure none of the guards were looking in her direction. The she flipped a bird in the supervisor's direction, "Muk you asshole." She muttered as she helped Broehain to his feet, "C'mon, you heard him, let's get you to the shearing section. Broehain, right?"

He nodded, "Yeah…Um…you aren't scared?" he asked.

"As the old saying goes. What the supervisor doesn't know won't land me in a torture chamber." Riet said softly as she began to walk away, Broehain was quick to follow.

* * *

Maybe the supervisor was right, maybe he was better placed in the shearing area. At least all the guards here were female. And the other slaves didn't pay a lot of attention to him. But unfortunately the shears he had been provided with were very dull, and he was struggling to sharpen it.

"Not like that." Broehain jumped, only to jump again when he turned to see Windy's eye patch, "Wow you really are jumpy." She muttered, "Here, give it to me." she said as she took the shearing knife and the sharpening stone from him, "You're not trying to start a fire, though you were coming pretty close to." She said, "The last thing we want is to light the Mareep on fire, I hate mutton." She said.

"Was that a joke?" Broehain timidly asked. A harsh glare from Windy's remaining eye gave him his answer.

"Anyway, you need to be slow and smooth, also drag it away from you so you don't hurt yourself." Windy said as she began to demonstrate. Windy ran the blade down the sharpener, after a while she returned the shear to Broehain, "Now be careful, the gijinka don't take slip ups lightly."

"…Thanks." Broehain said. Windy only gave his arm a punch before going back to shearing the Mareep she was assigned to. "Ow..." Broehain said, rubbing his arm.

"Toughen up Bro; trust me, you'll need a tougher hide if you want to survive." Windy said, sparks coming of the blade as she ran it through the soft yellowish wool, she twitched a bit with every cut, but remained completely stone-faced.

* * *

Things fell into a bit of a routine for Khan; wake up, eat, waste time, minor torture, sleep, rinse and repeat. It was what he assumed was a day, which meant that he'd been down there for weeks, considering how he measured time, well that and his hair length as well, an inch of it could easily rest on his shoulders now.

Things had gotten rather boring, but he always had the Mawile guard watching over him. Strange, you can be around someone and interact with them for nearly a month and never know their name. Not that Khan cared either way, while the small talk and wagers broke the dull spells, she was still a gijinka. And when looking at the fact that she was only a few years his senior, he knew that she got a guard position at this castle for a reason. And he was in no rush to find out, he just hoped he'd get his assignment soon.

* * *

Khan got his wish a few days later when a visitor came to the cages, it was the Iron Admiral himself, Daedalus. He came pretty early in, what Khan assumed, was the morning. He looked at Khan from under his helmet before looking at the Mawile, "Morning Molly, I trust he hasn't caused too much trouble?"

Khan raised an eyebrow, while he didn't care what her name was, he didn't really expect it to be something as plain as Molly. But he kept his trap shut.

Molly shook her head, "Nope, just sits there a broods all day, isn't much on a conversationalist either." she said in a firm tone, but then she cracked a slight smile, "Kinda like you Uncle."

Now that piece of information legitimately surprised Khan. "Uncle?" he asked without thinking.

"Hm," Daedalus grunted, seemingly ignoring Khan's quiet outburst, "Well, the king says that our caged slave can be given his assignment now." He said.

"About time." Khan muttered as Daedalus approached his cage, "Mind telling me what it is?"

The admiral shook his head, "My job is to bring you to Madam Nicole, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to tell you." he said as he unlocked the cage.

After Khan was cuffed Daedalus began to escort him out of the room, "Also, Molly," Daedalus said, "I believe you're due for a hair appointment within the next couple of days." Molly nodded as a response, and Khan was slightly confused…he figured there was probably some hidden meaning he could figure out later.

* * *

The walk from the cages was silent, which meant that it was perfect. Khan spent the entire walk observing, taking note of anything that could be useful. He had discovered that the cages were 5 levels below the castle itself, and the entrance to the lower levels was in the guard barracks in the west wing of the castle…very good to know. That may complicate things a bit though.

Khan continued to make further observations as Daedalus lead him through the castle, because he didn't get to do that the last time he was walking through these halls because of Nate, the castle's halls were, no surprise, much roomier than the tunnels of the lower levels by a long shot. But other than that, really the only thing he could take note of was the amazing interior décor and architectural designs in the stone.

* * *

Eventually they found Nikki, there was a bundle of clothes in her hand and she was waiting by a specially marked door. Upon seeing their approach she smiled, "Thank you for bringing him here Admiral." She said.

"Just following my orders Madame Nicole." He said.

Nikki shook her head, "Always so formal." She muttered, "Alright, take off his cuffs and I'll take it from here." she said. Daedalus nodded, and began to take the cuffs off Khan's hands.

"What, aren't you afraid I'll take off running?" Khan asked, though he could've been sarcastic, it was really hard to tell.

"No," Daedalus said, "If you're able to escape you former master and avoid getting recaptured for 7 years, I highly doubt you're stupid." He said as the metal came off Khan's hands and was attached to the admiral's belt. "Perhaps a bit lucky, but definitely not stupid." He said before turning to Nikki, "I leave him in your capable hands." He said before walking away.

Khan turned to look at Nikki, who seemed to be examining him, "Hm you're a bit different from when I last saw you, well it's a good thing I had you brought here." she said, "A slave that belongs to the princess should be well groomed."

Khan's face went into a deadpan, "The princess?" he asked in a complete monotone.

Nikki nodded, "Which is why I brought you to the baths." She said, "While I do think the facial hair and long hair is a look you can pull off rather well, I don't think a princess' slave should be dirty. Plus that set of rucksacks you call clothes isn't very fitting."

Khan sighed, "Let's get this over with."

* * *

Okay…when Nikki told Khan he was going to get cleaned, he didn't think she meant that the workers _in_ the bath were going to be doing the cleaning. At least they were all woman and most of them were human, but he has apparently way dirtier than he thought, because they weren't being gentle.

"I'm beginning to learn the struggle you girls have when getti- OW MUK!" Khan muttered before shouting. He was in a bath with a gijinka that working the baths was running a brush through his hair, and the tangles were painful.

"Sorry, it can be rather painful when you haven't brushed it in a while, in your case, years of not brushing." The gijinka said, "It'd be easier if we just chopped it all off."

"No, I can handle it." Khan said, "I hate short hair."

"Then just take it until I'm finished so we can start scrubbing." The gijinka said.

"Wait, did you say scru- OW!"

* * *

Nikki was waiting outside the baths when Khan walked out, his hair was no longer a messy and tangled mane, which showed just how long it was. It was being held his hair back in kinda a Pontya-tail, it was kinda hard to call it that his hair still wasn't long enough to be considered that, and his facial hair had been trimmed down for a more neat and mature look. He was still wearing his bandana around his head, but the dirty bandana kinda stood out when looking at the rest of his outfit. Which was basically a simplified butler's uniform.

The smiled upon seeing him, "You look nice." She said.

Khan didn't look pleased, "I feel violated." He grumbled.

Nikki laughed at his comment, "Come on dearie, the princess has woken up and is on her way to eat her breakfast. I suggest we move along." Khan nodded, mostly just wanted to get far away from the baths.

* * *

Aria was in the royal dining area with Echo, Celia, and Faye; the castle did have a massive banquet hall on the rare occurrence that they held events that large, but they had this smaller, family sized one for the royal family to use.

She was just sitting down when the door opened and Nikki walked in with someone she didn't know, but she smiled upon seeing her aunt. "Morning Aunt Nikki, are you joining us for breakfast?" she asked.

Nikki returned her smile and shook her head, "Unfortunately no, I'm just here to drop off your fourth slave."

Aria looked surprised for a second, "Oh yeah, I had forgotten that I was getting another one." She said.

Nikki laughed, "Well here he is." She said gesturing to the stranger next to her, who stepped forward, "Now, if you excuse me. I must take my leave because I have duties to attend you. I leave him in your hands." She said before leaving the room.

It was a bit silent before Aria got up from her seat and walked up to Khan, really having to crane her neck up since she only came up to Khan's shoulders. "So, you got a name?" Aria asked with a slight amount of command to her voice as she folded her arms.

…Khan's face didn't show anything, but seeing the sight in front of him gave him an unfamiliar feeling, a feeling that almost made him want to smile…weird, "My name is Khan Kensaki." He answered.

Aria nodded, "Alright Khan, I'm Aria." She said with a smile, "And as your new master, my first order is for you to get my breakfast from the kitchens." She said before turning around and going back to the table.

Khan raised an eyebrow, she clearly wasn't used to giving orders, which was surprising when considering the fact that she was a princess. He shrugged it off and walked towards the three girls, who were sitting on zabutons around a table that was barely elevated a foot off the ground, "Mind telling me where the kitchens are?" he asked.

"The access door is right there." Celia said, pointing to the door, "Also, be sure to ask for any extra stuff they just have lying around, because that'll be _our_ breakfast." She said.

"So we live off the extra stuff?" Khan asked, "Alright then." He said before walking to the door Celia had pointed at and walked inside.

* * *

The kitchens were very lively, as to be expected. There weren't any humans as far as Khan could tell, it was all gijinka. One of which spotted Khan, "Never seen you before. What's your business?"

"I'm one of the princess' slaves. Happened very recently, this morning actually." Khan said, "She sent me to retrieve her breakfast."

The gijinka nodded before turning to the kitchens and calling out, "The princess wants breakfast! Where is it?"

About half a minute later the gijinka was handed a silver platter, who then handed it to Khan, "Be careful with that." The gijinka advised.

"Noted." Khan said, "Also do you have anything extra just lying around that my fellow slaves could eat?"

The gijinka was silent and seemed to have a staring contest with Khan, Khan didn't blink and neither did the gijinka. After a few seconds the gijinka blinked a few times, seeming to come out of a daze, "I'm sure there's something, wait here."

* * *

After the gijinka gave Khan a bag, he went back into the room and placed the silver platter in front of Aria, "Eat up." He muttered.

"Thank you, you are dismissed." Aria said, more focused on the food than Khan. Khan rolled his eyes slightly before walking over to the girls with the bag in hand.

"Don't know what they gave me, but hopefully it's enough." Khan said as he put the bag on the table and knelt down on one of the remaining zabutons.

Faye grabbed the bag, opened and looked inside. Upon seeing the contents her eyes widened a bit, she then proceeded to gently pull out four frosted berry pastries, "Still warm…they're fresh?" She said, clearly surprised. Then she pulled out some cold strips of bacon. She turned to look at Khan, "How did you convince them to give us these?"

Khan shrugged, "Must be my natural charm." He said. "All I did was ask if they had anything lying around for you guys."

Celia distributed the food to everyone, "Well hopefully that charm of yours continues," she said "Because I think you should be on permanent meal retrieval duty."

"If you say so." Khan said as he accepted to food Celia gave him. As he began to feast, his gaze turned to the third girl at the table. "You're the slave that rode in the king's carriage." He stated.

The girl turned to look at him. Her eyes were a bit…odd. Sure he wasn't really one to talk when it came to bizarre eye colors, but muddy brown eyes weren't exactly an eye color you saw paired with dark blue hair.

"Y-y-you w-were the one that was after the b-b-boy…the 'Wild' J-Jacket, you spoke about being b-b-broken." She replied.

Khan raised an eyebrow at her response, "I suppose I did." he said.

Echo shook her head softly, "Y-y-you really d-d-don't know m-m-much about being broken do you?"

"And what do you mean by that?" Khan asked, more curious than anything else.

"Y-you seem to t-t-talk a lot about b-b-being broken," Echo said, "but you yourself are n-n-nowhere c-c-close to it. I've seen those that have b-been...they're eyes were d-d-d-dull and lifeless, without will. Yours," She said, pausing to almost deeply examine Khan's eyes, "are the very opposite." She finished before turning back to her food

Khan was silent, he didn't really have a response to that. So he just went back to eating. Echo smiled slightly at Khan's silence and Celia and Faye exchanged chances, both silently asking questions about the exchange that just happened.

* * *

"Hmmm…"

"Is there a problem, Princess?" Khan asked. It had been a few hours since breakfast and Aria had completed her lessons for the day, and had been examining Khan for the past few minutes.

"Kinda." Aria said, "I don't think the Ponyta-tail look suits you, that's all." She said. "You know what…this won't do."

"What?" Khan asked. Not sure if he liked the grin that Aria had on her face.

* * *

Meanwhile, down in the mines, some of the guards were feeling a little bored. Out of all the places to guard, the mines were perhaps the most boring, really the slaves didn't even need to be guarded. They were just there in case of an accident such as a cave in happened, but for the past couple weeks nothing had happened. Normally music night would break the dull spells, but for some reason music night had been put on hold. Something to do with the instruments either needing repairs or something like that, and wouldn't happen for another few days.

They seriously needed something to break this rut, and one of them had an idea on how to do that, "Hey man," one of them said to a Gallade gijinka in the group, "You've been working on your psychic abilities right?"

The Gallade was slightly confused about the question, "Yeah, why?"

"Do you know Trick Room?" he asked. When the Gallade nodded in response, the gijinka grinned and turned his gaze to a certain jacket-wearing slave, "I think we can have some fun."

* * *

Nate hacked away at the stone in front of him with his pickaxe at a pretty decent pace, but then he stopped when after a strike, a speck of color appeared on the stone. For a second Nate thought he had struck something, so he hit it again with his pickaxe. The hole became bigger, but then the color began to flow down the stone. Nate reached out to touch it, the second his hand made contact, the stone suddenly changed to a person.

Nate jumped and stumbled back and he could clearly see who it was…it was Carol. Still in the same white dress that she wore when she died. "Nate." She said in her beautiful voice, "Why did you leave me?"

Nate shook his head and he dropped the pickaxe, this wasn't happening, "N-no, no this is impossible. You're dead." he breathed out.

Carol expression grew sad and confused, "Why did you abandon me in those woods?" she asked?

"I…I didn't." Nate said, but then he clenched his eyes shut as his hands went to the side of his head. "No, no this isn't real. You're not here, you're dead." He said to himself, when he opened his eyes, she was gone.

Nate breathed a sigh of relief, he must've been working too hard. He looked around his feet to see where the pickaxe was. He didn't see, and when he turned around to see if it was behind him. He saw Carol's face less than a foot away.

" **Why did you let me die!?"** she shouted.

Nate let out a short scream as he jumped back and his back hit the cave wall.

* * *

The slaves around Nate looked at him in worry, Gray especially. What had gotten into him, a minute ago he was working and now he was freaking out.

Meanwhile the guards were snickering to themselves, "Oh man, we should've done this weeks ago." One of them said, enjoying the Wild Jacket's fear-stricken face.

* * *

Blood started to come out from where Carol got shot, staining her white dress. She started to walk towards Nate, "Was it cause you didn't love me anymore? Was I being a bother to you? Is that why you didn't even bury me? You didn't even try to save me!" she said, getting angrier and angrier.

Nate's breathing got quicker, when Carol was very close he ducked to the side and moved around her and stumbled before landing on his hands and knees. He couldn't bring himself to look at her because of the guilt.

"There was nothing I could do. You were bleeding a lot and I couldn't find anything that would stop it." he said. When he got no response, he looked around him and saw that Carol was gone again. He also noticed the weird looks all the other slaves were giving him. He gave an awkward chuckle as he got up, "Arceus, I'm going insane aren't I?"

Some of the slaves nodded while the guards were trying very hard not to laugh their asses off.

Nate went to pick up his pickaxe again, when an all too familiar male voice spoke, "Son."

The voice made Nate's blood run cold, he looked towards the voice and saw Matt and Allie, his adoptive gijinka parents, looking dirty, weak, and weighed down by heavy chains. His chest clenched from guilt, "Mom? Dad?"

Both of them looked very angry, "How could you do this to us?" Matt asked in a cold and harsh tone, "After all we did for you."

Tears began to pool in Nate's eyes, "No I didn't mean-"

Matt interrupted him, "You let those guards see you and lead them back to the house! **You sold us out!** "

The tears were now flowing down Nate's cheeks, he wanted to speak, but Allie began to talk, "No excuses young man, this is all your fault. It was a mistake to take you in, then we wouldn't be in this mess and Carol would still be alive!"

Carol walked out from behind Matt and Allie, her dress even more bloody than it was before, "It's your fault Nate. You killed me! You imprisoned the gijinka that took you in and then killed the girl you love!" she shouted.

They surrounded him shouting, blaming him for what had happened. Nate clenched his eyes shut and covered his ears as he fell to his knees and curled into the fetal position, "No no no, this isn't real!" he said to himself.

"Oh, but you're wrong Nate." Everything seemed to go silent as Nate looked up and saw…himself. But at the same time it wasn't, he wasn't wearing his jacket, he wasn't wearing a shirt, and was covered in blood…it wasn't him. It was his wild side. The wild Nate smiled manically, a wild look in his eyes, "This _is_ real Nate, this is who you are." He said as he slowly walked around him, "You're a monster Nate, no matter how much meditation you do. You can't hide what you really are. Accept it already."

" **NO!** " Nate shouted as he curled up even tighter. They weren't real, he knew that they weren't real. So he took his hands off his ears, got onto his knees into a meditative position, and kept his eyes shut. He tried to block out the hallucinations, which lead him to his emotions. As he got to work, his breathing began to slow and his body relaxed.

* * *

The guards now couldn't contain their laughter, "Oh this is rich." One of them said through tears, "The might Wild Jacket, the only human stupid enough to fight off a gijinka and get away, brought down by his own mind." They laughed about it even more.

A different guard took notice of Nate's new position and his laughing stopped, "Um…guys. What is he doing?"

The laughter slowly died down as each of the guards noticed Nate's state, just what was he doing? They turned to the Gallade, "I'm still keeping the hallucination going, but he's apparently closed himself off from it." he said, "One of you go over there and snap him out of whatever it is he's put himself into, I have to keep my concentration."

The guard that came up with the idea nodded and walked over to the meditating Nate, "Hey, come on." He said as he poked Nate's cheeks with his finger. After a few pokes the guard got impatient, "Snap out of it dammit!" he shouted as he went to punch him.

Nate's eyes snapped open and with surprising speed, he grabbed the gijinka's fist, pulled the gijinka down, and gripped the gijinka's neck with both hands and began to choke him. As he stood up, looked up at everyone, his face completely void of any emotion, "There…I'm out of it." he said, his voice was like his face, cold and completely void of any emotion.

"Wild Jacket," Boomer said, Nate wasn't sure when he got here, but he was there, "Just let him go, you don't want to do that."

Nate's only response was tightening his grip, "If the psychic doesn't get out of my head, I'll snap his neck and smash his head against the wall." He said.

Boomer looked at the Gallade, "Yeah, I'm getting out of it right now." He said, knowing that Nate wasn't bluffing, and the hallucinations faded from Nate's vision.

"Okay, he's out." Boomer said, looking back at Nate, "Now, let him go."

Nate's expression didn't change and he began to walk forward, "I don't think so."

"Nate!" Gray said in a firm tone, "Just stop, you're only making this worse."

Nate turned to look at Gray, his gaze unwavering, "Well, guess what? I don't give a-" _**BAM!**_

Nate was cut off when one of the female slaves came up behind him and hit the back of his head with a shovel. The impact loosened Nate's grip, which allowed the guard to break free and get away, sent Nate stumbling forward, and he fell unconscious to the floor.

Everyone was slightly shocked by what just happened. Boomer turned to look at the slave with the shovel, "Excellent work." He said.

The slave nodded, "Just doing my duty, plus he was really freaking me out." She said.

Boomer nodded before turning to point at two guards, "You two, take him to one of the torture chambers." He commanded. They nodded before collecting Nate's limp form and carrying him towards the elevator. Boomer then looked at all the other slaves, "Considering the fact that it was the guards that started this and that one of your own put an end to it. Instead of having no breakfast tomorrow, you will simply have gruel."

Some of the slaves were relieved at hearing this piece of news, some of them went to thank the female slave with the shovel.

Boomer then turned to look at the guards that had been laughing and started the whole thing, "And as for you. I will be sending a report of this to Daedalus, and he will be deciding what should be done." He said, "It's that time of month, so you better pray to Arceus that he doesn't set you up on a date with his niece." The guards gulped.

* * *

When Nate came to, his head felt like it had been cracked open. He tenderly rubbed the back of his head and looked around. He groaned from the pain and from recognizing what room this was. "Oh great." He said.

A ghostly giggle echoed through the chamber, "I know, isn't it?" Kali said in a gleeful tone as she materialized out of the shadows, "Hello Wild Jacket, miss me?" she asked as she moved toward him, "I know I did, it's been so long since our last interaction, and when those guards brought you to me. I knew I was going to have lots of fun!" she said, her zipper lips struggling to contain her wide grin.

"Oh boy, can't wait." Nate muttered.

Kali giggled, "Not that kind of fun silly." She said, "Get your mind out of the gutter, we're just sticking to this." She said before snapping her fingers.

Light blue-purple fires lit up all around Nate as flaming chains slithered out of all of them and grabbed different parts of Nate and pulled them out to the side and held him in the air. Nate grunted at the strain of his limbs were being pulled in all different directions.

Kali's smile never left her face as his hand became shrouded with ghostly energy. Then she went forward and jabbed her hand into Nate's stomach, and it passed right through it.

Nate hissed and the eruption of what felt like frostbite in his chest, but he sucked it up and he closed his eyes and once again began to block every out like he did with the hallucination. It got a bit hard when Kali would take her hand out and jab it into a different location, but eventually his body relaxed and his breathing slowed.

After a few jabs, Kali realized that Nate wasn't making any sound, she looked up and saw his face was void of emotion. She knew that she didn't kill him, he was clearly still breathing. This confused her greatly, "Wild Jacket?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face. Nothing. "Hm." She said before her hand became coated with electricity and she sent it into Nate's body. Again, nothing.

* * *

After doing a few more methods, she still couldn't get any reaction from him, so using what little psychic abilities she had. She looked through Nate's mind and discovered that he had entered a state of mind where he couldn't feel anything…which made Kali's job rather boring.

After thinking for a bit, she got an idea, "Let's see how you handle this." She said as ghostly energy formed around her finger to create a nail made of dark mist. Then she placed the point onto Nate's forehead, and then pushed the nail in. There was no wound, it just simply went into Nate's head without leaving a single mark.

A few seconds after the nail had been inserted, Nate's body flickered with a purple aura before it faded away, but like before. It got no reaction from Nate.

Kali blew a breath of exasperation, "Alright, this isn't fun." She said, "I'll go let them know that you need a different torturer this time." She said before she withdrew the chains and melted into the shadows.

After she was gone, Nate opened his eyes and exhaled as he came out of that cold, unfeeling state, "Whew, I thought she'd never leave." He said softly to himself.

"PSYCHE!" Kali's voice rang out as she suddenly came back into the room, "I never left, I knew that would snap you out of it." she said proudly. Nate tried not to roll his eyes and simply tried to go back into his closed off state, but when he tried, he was only met with his body suddenly feel like it had been thrown into ice water. It made him gasp for breath, "We'll be having none of that." Kali said with a grin.

Nate looked at Kali, "What did you do to me?"

"Well, you being all unresponsive like that was boring and nothing I tried worked." She said, "So…I put a little curse on you." she said in a sing-song voice, "A curse that will make sure you feel everything that happens to you." she said.

Nate paled a bit, "So that means…"

Kali smirked, "No more cold and unfeeling Nate," she said before her body glowed pink and went into her mega form, "Which means the fun is back on." She said before leaping at Nate.

* * *

Nate really felt like shit as the guard practically dragged him back to the cages. He really didn't want to think about what had just happened in the torture rooms with Kali. He just wanted to go back to the cage and just curl up.

Nate didn't have to look to know Khan was in the cages, he could just feel his eyes on him as he was just about thrown into the cages. "Well…you look like shit." Khan said.

"I'm not in the mood Khan so why do you just go…" Nate trailed off when he looked over at Khan. Clearly he had been recently cleaned up, and he was wearing a new outfit that consisted of a black undershirt and backing black sweats, but what he looking at was Khan's hair. It had been styled into several braids that were sticking up in all directions. Nate was silent for a second before he snorted and began to laugh.

Khan maintained his poker face throughout Nate's laughing fit until the laughs finally began to die down, "You finished?"

Nate was breathing heavily, "Just give me a minute." He managed to get out before burst out laughing once again. It wasn't as long as the last one, but when he finished he had tears in his eyes. He gave a happy sigh as he wiped the tears away, "Honestly dude, I was have the shittiest day, but then you just made it good again." He said.

"I'm so glad." Khan muttered, the sarcasm just about oozing from his mouth.

Nate's grin was back and he had completely forgotten on how weak his body felt a few minutes ago, "Seriously, what the muk happened to your hair?" he asked.

"The princess thought it could use some style." Khan said, "I guess I should thank her though, the gijinka down here let me off easy because apparently having this hair was enough torture."

"Hey, the princess' slave, a pretty big honor." Nate said, which only made Khan scoff, "Though actually I think it looks pretty good." Nate said, trying to fight back another laugh.

Khan rolled his eyes, "Like your one to talk with that bush on your face." He said, "I mean, what creature attached itself to your face and died?"

Nate raised a hand to rub the thick red beard that he had growing on his face, "Sure it could use a little trimming, but I think it looks good on me." he said.

"No comment." Khan muttered. Molly giggled at the scene in front of her.

Nate grinned, "See, she agrees." He said, causing Khan to roll her eyes. "Well, after that exchange. I'm no longer tired. So…" he said before reaching into the pocket of his jacket and pulling out a deck of cards, "Poker anyone?"

Molly saw Nate pull out the cards, then something occurred to her, "Hey, wait a minute."

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **And scene…man am I cutting it close with this one. I almost didn't make my deadline.**

 **Well either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I want to thank Imagination Heaven, MysteryAgain, Blade5678, BlackRoseEden28, and SmilingPrince for reviewing on the last chapter.**

 **Now, be sure to leave a review telling me your thoughts. Now also I have a question for all of you, what chapter would you want to see first…'Day of Music' or 'Council of the Seven'. Leave a review to let me know.**

 **But until the next update, this is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: 'Ey There Shelia**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

Molly's comment somewhat confused Nate, "What?"

"You weren't searched when you arrived here, were you?" she asked.

"Ummm…No." Nate admitted, a little awkwardly, "None of us were when we came in."

"Probably cause you were the only one that had pockets at the time." Khan pointed out.

Molly sighed and rubbed her brow, "Someone is going to get demoted for this." She said, "I'll let my superiors know and we'll have you searched. I'll have to send Boomer a message saying that you may be late upon your return. These guys like to punish depending on what they find." She said before leaving the room and locking the door behind her.

Nate stretched a little before he began to untie his boots, chances are they were going to search them, so he thought it'd make it a bit easy for them. Once they were off, he curiously sniffed them, big mistake. Immediately he recoiled and fought the gag reflex as his eyes stung a little. He decided it would be best he kept them far away while they were off. Once he pushed them away a good distance, he began to reach into his jacket and empty his pockets.

"Ugh." Khan said, "Did something die in those boots?"

"You try working in a mine for hours a day with no bathing system for a month without having some kind of body odor." he said as he continued to empty his pockets. Soon he was surrounded by his journal, the pencil, the deck of cards he had pulled out, and some pokè.

"I hope you don't expect them to believe that's all you have on you." Khan said as he observed the items.

Nate looked over at him, "And what makes you think I have more?"

Khan rolled his eyes, "Comparing that face bush you call facial hair to how clean shaven you were when I first met you, I know you've got something sharp hiding in there." He pointed out.

"Well aren't you the observant one," Nate said sarcastically, "Or maybe it wasn't observing, maybe you were checking me out." He added with a slight grin.

Khan's face fell into a deadpan, "Checking you out?" he said as he looked him over, "Yeah, right. Anyone that finds you attractive has to be crazy." He said.

It was at that moment that Kali decided to reveal herself by emerging from one of the many shadows in the room, "I'll have you know that I find him very attractive." She said as she shot Nate a look that made Nate try to hide his discomfort.

Khan looked over at Kali, "Don't you have someone to torture?" he asked. "Or anything better to do?"

Kali shrugged, "If you don't want me here just say-"

"I don't want you here." Khan said rather bluntly.

Kali pouted, or rather the best pout she could manage with her zipper mouth, "Well that's just rude." She said, "Fine, I can tell when I'm not wanted."

"Can you?" Khan asked, Nate had to hold back a snort that fought to come out. Kali only stuck her tongue out at Khan before dipping back into the shadows. "Case in point." Khan muttered.

"Actually…" Nate admitted, "There is actually a group of gijinka girls that have stalked me for the past while that would further your point even more. One benefit of being captured is that I'm far less likely to run into them" He said with a slight shudder. "Don't ask me why, I don't even know why they're so obsessed with me."

"Then why do you let them chase you?" Khan asked, "Just take care of them by tricking them into chasing you into a strip club or something." He said as he leaned his back against the bars and pulled his bandana over his eyes.

"And you think I haven't tried that?" Nate said, "Those girls are thirstier than…than…"

"Manaphy in the middle of the desert?" Khan suggested, not entirely invested in the conversation.

"Yeah, that works." Nate said, "That card game offer still stands."

"I'd love to, but I'm curious to see if it's Cresselia planning my evening or Darkrai." Khan said, "You apparently had a shit day, I suggest you get as much sleep in as you can." Then Khan seemed to relax before falling silent, about a minute later Khan's breathing began to become even and a bit heavy.

"Hm, maybe he can fall asleep that fast." Nate muttered, it was probably a good idea to take his advice. So Nate closed his eyes and hoped there wouldn't be any nightmares. He didn't have a lot of confidence in that happening, but a guy can dream right?

* * *

"Wake up!"

Nate bolted awake, he looked up and saw the Mawile had unlocked the cage and was standing in the entrance, as well as three guards he was sure he hadn't seen before, the guards looked exactly the same, were they triplets. "A simple tap on the shoulder would've sufficed."

"For once I agree." Khan muttered.

"Oh, so sorry. If only I gave a muk." She said, "Come on Wild Jacket, I see you have some stuff laid out. But we need to make sure you've got nothing else hidden away."

"Alright alright," Nate said as he got up and walked out of the cage, "and none of this Wild Jacket stuff…come to think of it I don't think we've been properly introduced." He pointed out, so he stuck out a hand and gave her a charming smile, "The name's Nate Xerna."

She didn't seem at all fazed by his introduction, "Molly Ironwood." She said as she turned around, completely ignoring his outstretched hand, "Grab his jacket and I'll search it, then you three can strip and search the rest of him."

"Whoa whoa whoa, time out," Nate said, making a time out sign, "Strip? Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not that type of human. Even if I was, I don't swing that way." He said, "But if it were Molly doing the stripping. I suggest you buy me dinner first." He said with a slightly exaggerated wink.

Molly rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. Nate was sure he was imagining it, but he was sure that Molly's ponyta-tail wiggled, "Just get it done." She muttered as she got out of the others' way.

"Alright Wild Jacket." The middle guard said, "Give us the jacket, nice and easy."

Nate shrugged, and was about to take his jacket off, but then decided to have a bit of fun. "You're more than welcome to come and grab it for yourselves."

* * *

Khan sighed, was Nate seriously doing this? If so, he began to get up.

* * *

Each of the three guards rolled their eyes, and when one of them reached out to grab it, Nate moved out of their reach, "Ooh, nice attempt for not trying." The guard growled in annoyance, and went for Nate again, "Whoa." He said as he danced out of their way. As he did so the second guard dove for him, but Nate was able to evade their efforts as well, "Nuh uh uh." He said. They were becoming more and more aggravated and the third member of the trio all but charged Nate, but like the first two he moved out of the way, "Three strikes and you're-"

"I got it." Khan said. Everyone looked toward Khan, who was holding up Nate's leather jacket.

"What the?" Nate looked down at himself, his jacket was gone. He looked at Khan in a mixture of shock and confusion, "Okay…how?" he asked. He was pretty sure he was wearing his jacket a second ago, and never once did he notice Khan in all that commotion. Even the guards that were trying to grab him were surprised.

"Are you guys going to grab it, or just stand there gawking?" Khan asked, when nobody moved he threw the jacket towards Molly, who easily caught it. "Well, my work here is done so don't disturb me until I need to go back to my assignment." He said before going back inside the cage, sat down and pulled his bandanna over his eyes.

"Thank you." Molly said, then she turned to the still shocked guards, "Get to work!" she shouted. The guards came out of their days when they jumped at Molly's command. "Yeah someone's definitely getting demoted." She muttered.

"Yes ma'am." One of the three guards gave Nate a stern look, "No more funny business. Or do we need to send for Miss Kali?"

Nate shivered, "Fine," He said, not wanted to see her anytime soon, "Not the first time I've dropped my pants in front of someone." He said, mostly to himself as he began to unzip his coveralls

After removing his coveralls, Nate was left in just his underwear and socks leaving his chest, which was marked by scars of varying kinds, clearly exposed. One of the guards regarded it with indifference, "A map of your luck." He muttered.

"What?" Nate asked.

The guard made a gesture at his scars, "You evaded guards and got away with only those marks? That's luck."

"Or I'm just skilled." Nate suggested.

The guard shook his head, "Getting away may take skill, but fighting back and doing it for as long as you have with only the scars you have to show for it takes serious luck." He said before picking up Nate's discarded coveralls and laying them across the ground, "Alright let's get searching." He said.

The three guards then stood by each other and held their hands out. The armor covering their hands began to split apart and shift around, causing their hands began to change. It led Nate to realize that the armor wasn't covering their hands, their armor _was_ their hands. Their hands soon formed into magnets than started to crackle with electricity an emit a barely visible wave that was focused on the coveralls, but some of the small objects made of metal in the room still seemed effected by it.

"You guys are a Magneton." Nate said, "So do you guys share a mind? How does that work?" All three of them seemed too focused on their job to acknowledge him.

Nothing on or in the coveralls seemed to be reacting to the magnetic pulse, but something in Nate's underwear seemed to be. One of the three turned to look at the strange activity, "Care to explain?" He asked.

"Ummm…would you believe it if I said magnetism is a fetish I have?" Nate tried.

The guards didn't answer and instead one of the magnets turned back into a hand grabbed the waistband of Nate's undies and stretched it. When it did so, two object all but flew out and stuck to the magnets.

"Molly, we got something!" They called out.

Molly stopped searching through the pockets of the jacket and walked over to the guards. When they held the magnets out to Molly, she pulled off the objects attached to them. "Hm," she said as she looked them over. They looked like switchblade hilts, one bigger and better designed than the other. And when she flicked her wrist to have the. Blades fold out, she saw that only one of them was a switchblade. The other was an old fashioned shaving razor. The knife was pretty big for a knife and had an inscription on it, "Matt Xerna," she read before looking at Nate, "the Matt Xerna?"

He nodded, "My adopted father, you know him?"

"Not many guards don't at least know his name." Molly said, "If not for his decision to retire he probably would've qualified for the position of Admiral of Pokéarth," Nate was slightly caught off guard, he knew his dad was skilled and had a respectable reputation, but enough to be Plasmane's second in command? It was certainly something interesting to hear. "but why would he have a knife?"

"Just in case. That's what he always told me." Nate explained.

"Well, they now belong to the force of this castle." Molly said as she folded the blades back into their hilts and putting them into a back at her belt. "I found nothing of interest in your jacket, nothing save for this." She said as she held up a rectangle wrapped in a gold foil wrapper. Part of the foil was peeled down to reveal the brown smooth bar underneath. She brought the sweet close to her face and smelled the chocolate, a look of bliss coming to her face.

"Huh," Nate said, "I'd completely forgotten about that bar of chocolate." Also it seemed that Molly had a bit of a sweet tooth.

"Not sure how you could." She said as she broke a piece off and popped it into her mouth, "It's so good~"

"Hey, how about sharing some of that." Nate said, the Magneton triplets looked at him in a way that implied they thought he was nuts.

"Grrrrrrrr"

Nate fell silent…where did that noise come from?

"Hm, it would seem that you're not the only one that thinks that." Molly said, then her dark gray hair began to move. It turned from individual hairs to coming together and fusing to form a hardened steel-like hide. The gray darkened into a black and the ponyta-tail extended and became large before it split in half to reveal it had become a large and strong looking mouth with massive razor sharp teeth.

The mouth let out a snarl before snapping and chomping at the air a few times.

"There there," Molly said, almost in an attempt to soothe it, "You'll be fed soon enough. This should hold you over until then." She said before tossing the chocolate bar into the air. In the blink of an eye the candy bar, wrapper and all, was gone and the mouth was chewing before shrinking and turning back into Molly's ponyta-tail.

"Okay, that just happened," Nate said, slightly intimidated.

Molly seemed to relax a little, "Its always a stress reliever when it's not dormant." She said, "Now, since slaves carrying objects that can be used as weapons outside of their assigned areas is against the rules. We have to punish you." She turned to the triplets, "Take him to the chambers."

One of them grinned, "We know just who to give him to." He said as the other two grabbed Nate.

"Can I at least get dressed first?" Nate asked.

"Not unless you want your clothes shredded." One of the three said, "You seem to like sharp objects, so you should get along with who we're sending you to." The three guards escorted Nate out of the room and after closing the door behind them, the room fell silent.

* * *

Molly walked into the cage and picked up the items Nate had earlier laid out. Though she had to look away to get some fresh air when she whiffed his boots, "Oh Arceus those reek." She said with a slight gag. So she quickly picked up the remaining items on the ground so she could get out of that cage and lock it up as soon as possible.

She added the remaining items to the pouch attached to her belt, but wasn't so quick to put the small leather book away. Her curiosity had been engaged so she opened the book and started to flip through the pages, "Looks like our jacket-wearing pain in the ass has a hobby." She said out loud. While she wouldn't ever admit it, Nate's drawing were pretty good for a human, "What about you Khan, do you have any artsy hobbies?" she asked.

Khan, slightly annoyed at being disturbed, waited a few seconds before giving a response, "I knit."

Molly stopped and looked up from the sketchbook to look at Khan, then she grinned and let out a giggle, "Good one." She said before going back to flipping through the pages.

"If you say so." Khan said with a shrug.

As Molly reached the last pages, she slowed down to look at all the sketches of one girl, "Well, somebody's obsessed." She muttered. "If I were this girl I'd have gotten a restraining order long ago."

"Her name is Carol," Khan said, "Nate thinks she's dead, but in reality she's not."

Molly gave a short laugh before nodding in agreement, "I'd fake my death too if it meant getting away from this guy. That or invite him to one of my…hair appointments." She said, a low growl coming from her ponyta-tail.

Khan heard the growl and that was enough for him to figure out what 'hair appointment' probably meant. "I was going to stay off it before, but now I _really_ know not to get on your bad side."

"Wise choice," Molly said, "Well I have to turn these items into my supervisor, can I trust you to stay here and behave?" she asked, almost mockingly.

"You locked the cage and are going to lock the door from the outside when you leave. Tell me how I'm supposed to do anything else?" Khan asked.

Molly shrugged, "Just making sure." She said before leaving the room and locking the door behind her.

* * *

Khan raised a hand to lift his bandanna to make sure that Molly wasn't in the room. When he saw she wasn't, he pulled the bandanna onto his forehead before looking at what he had in his other hand; Nate's switchblade.

When Molly was collecting Nate's things in the cage, it gave Khan the perfect opportunity to reach into the pickpocket Molly and take the knife from the pouch at her belt. He looked the switch blade over, admiring the craftsmanship of it. But why did he do it?...Well like Nate said before, just in case.

* * *

Nate wasn't sure to which chamber he was being taken to, but he was relieved when they walked by the entrance to Kali's chamber, but his spirits didn't raised when they brought him to what looked like the door to a safe. And the cracks of the door's edges were filled with frost like it was a massive freezer.

"Are you sure you guys can't give me my jacket, or at least my boots?" Nate asked.

The guards only chuckled, "If your reputation holds true, you should manage fine."

The guard that wasn't holding Nate was the one that opened the door by turning the wheel. At first they had a bit of trouble, but after a bit of strain the wheel turned and some frost crystals came loose and fell to the floor. Then when they pulled the door opened, a rush of cold air came out and some fog drifted out of the room. When the door was opened enough the guards pushed Nate inside before heaving the door closed.

Nate stumbled a few steps before he slipped on the ice that was on the floor and fell onto his back. Nate's body tensed up from the cold surge through his back. The sudden change in temperature forced all of Nate's breath out of his lungs in a foggy exhale. He tried to get up, but his socks made it hard to keep a good grip on the ground, so any attempt he made to get up only resulted in him falling back down.

Eventually he settled simply for sitting up and looking around. The first thing he noticed was that the room was bigger than Kali's, and it was obviously far colder. As if the ice didn't make that fact obvious. But it was so cold that the food was covered in a fog that Nate couldn't see through, making it unclear just how big the room was.

"Okay Nate, obviously you're dealing with an Ice-Type." He muttered to himself, running through a list of possible gijinka he could be up against. But he didn't get a lot of time before an intercom came on, causing Nate to jump.

"Alright Sheila, he should be ready for you." a voice echoed throughout the chamber.

"Sheila?" Nate asked to no one in particular, so the gijinka was a female, "Uh…Miss Sheila?" he called out, "Any chance you could decrease the amount of ice on the floor? I'm kinda having trouble standing up."

Nate's only response was a sinister feminine giggle, "Isn't that adorable?" the voice must've been Shelia's, but the echo in the room and the fog made it close to impossible to pinpoint where she was.

 _SHEEN!_

Nate's head whipped to the side where the noise came from, there was nothing there except for deep scratches in the ice that he swore weren't there before. "Ice-type, extremely fast, with apparently sharp claws…oh boy." He said, knowing what he was up against.

"Give the slave a prize." Sheila said before Nate was suddenly surrounded by a grey blur that was almost trying to pick up a whirlwind of wind and frost around him. When the blur suddenly came to a stop, Nate didn't have time to get a good look at Sheila before he did his best to move out of the way before something came down hard on the area was sitting in and shattering the ice, leaving the ground underneath it completely exposed, "And there you go."

"Uh, thanks," Nate said as he moved to the spot of exposed ground. As he got up, he got a good look at Sheila now that she was standing still.

Like he suspected, she was a Weavile gijinka. While he was expecting her to be white as snow, her skin was actually more like Windy's. Her cat-like eyes were an intense blood red and held a chilling sinister look to them. She was wearing a skin tight grey robe you'd see a ninja wear with a red bandana around her neck and black ice skates on her feet. Her hair was the same color as her bandana and was cut short and styled into a pixie-cut. Her red-painted lips curled into natural smirk to reveal perfectly white teeth that was a total contrast to the rest of her. But her most notable feature were the gauntlets on her hands, they were a glimmering silver that almost shined white. The tips of the fingers of the gauntlets were gone to show the tops of her fingers and well maintained pointed nails painted with metallic polish.

"Hmmm," Sheila said as she skated around Nate. "It's not common that they send a slave my way a little underdressed, but rarely is it one so ripped with so little scars." She said as she ran a hand down Nate's arm. The contact ran shivers down Nate's spines and caused goose bumps to appear on his skin.

"Yeah…hi, I'm Nate Xerna. Though the gijinka know me as the Wild Jacket." He said a bit awkwardly.

"Oh I know who you are." She said with a giggle, "Kali had quite a few things to say about you. I'm tell in you now that you shouldn't expect such special treatment from me though." Nate did not what to know what Kali would be saying about him, after she skated a full circle around him, she came to a stop in front of him, "Let's get started, shall we?" she said as she raised her hands and the fingernails began to extend out of her fingers and turn into several inch long sharp claws.

"Holy shit." Nate said.

His response made Shelia's grin widen a bit, "Oh this is going to be fun alright." She said before she just about disappeared from view as her skates made a new trail in the ice. Nate didn't know where she was now, but he knew what general area she was in due to the direction the trail went in. So he went into a guarded stance, preparing himself for what was to come, "You know, personally I think you'd look better without that beard." Sheila said.

The comment somewhat confused Nate, but then a section of the fog dispersed as the blur once again came into view and sped by him several different times. With each blur some red fuzz from Nate's beard was sent into the air. "Augh!" Nate cried out as his hand went to a stinging feeling in his left arm, when he removed his hand, he saw four distinct cuts that were beginning to show blood. Then he used his free hand to feel his face, Sheila had trimmed his beard down from a bush to stubble.

"You know Wild Jacket, I expected more of a fight from you." Sheila said as she sped past Nate again. This time the stinging came from his lower back, "From hearing several guards trash talk you." Another blur followed by a stinging in his abdominal region, "I expected you to live up to your reputation."

* * *

After a few more blurs slashed him, Nate decided that he had enough. So he focused everything he had into his senses and he could barely make out a part of the fog begin to disperse, "Rah!" Nate all but roared as he dropped down and swept his leg in a circular arch across the icy floor.

He felt his leg connect with something and a swearing pain erupted in his leg as the blur suddenly became Sheila as the trip caught her off guard and sent her tumbling through the air. Nate's breathing was now heave as he brought his leg toward him to find the source of the pain, which he didn't have to search long for. Going across his shin a few inches above his ankle was a large deep gash that was pretty much oozing blood.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Nate turned to see that Sheila had caught herself by digging her claws into the ice and holding herself into the air. Her eyes still full of mischief, but still looked impressed. "That was a pretty big risk you took there, and had I been going full speed. I would've easily taken your foot off with these things." she said pointing to one of her ice skates, which had blood on the blade.

She wasn't even going at full speed? The blood flowing from the gash and several cuts on his body was causing the room to spin and he could feel the cold air sucking out his stamina.

Then she got herself back into her feet and skated back to being in front of Nate, "Looks like you're definitely going to need to go to the infirmaty…but first the finishing touch." She said with a grin.

Nate didn't get a chance to fully process those words before some of her claws glowed white and larger before slashing across the left side of his face. Nate screamed from the pain that erupted from his cheek, "You bitch!" he shouted out of reflex.

Sheila shook a scolding finger at Nate, "Didn't your father ever teach you not to talk to a lady like that?" she asked. "You should be thanking me, those marks will leave some impressive scars. And everyone knows chicks dig scars." She said before she brought her hand to her face and licked the blood from one of her claws, "I know I do." She said, giving Nate a look that reminded him of Kali.

…Nate was beginning to think that Khan had a point about the crazy ones finding him attractive. Nate wanted to make a retort, but instead he collapsed to the floor, the cold and the blood loss taking it's toll.

* * *

As Nate's eyes opened, his vision was slightly blurry, and the more he blinked the more his vision came into focus. He was lying on a cot in what looked to be an infirmary. When he tried to move, his body only ached in response. He looked down at himself to see bandages on various parts of his body, and a thick one around where Sheila's skate had got him. Summoning his strength he raised a hair to feel the bandage that covered his cheek and a part of his chin and neck, also he noticed that his stubble was completely gone.

Lowering his hand, he looked around he notice that there was only one other gijinka in the room that was looking in the medicines in the cabinet on the wall. She was a Blissey Gijinka with figure somewhat similar to Nikki's, but it was more of a pear than an hour-class figure. She has white hair with pink highlights that was pinned back into a bun and she was wearing a doctor's uniform with a nurse's hat on her head.

After making a decision, she picked out three different containers on the shelf and turned back around. Upon noticing Nate's conscious state, her chocolate brown eyes lit up as a smile came onto her face. "Ah, you're up." The gijinka had a lovely voice that filled him with warmth and comfort. Then her expression fell into an apologetic one, "I apologize for your current state, Sheila has been known to go a little too far and could've caused some permanent damage."

Nate looked down at himself, "How long to I need to have these bandages for?" Nate asked.

"Oh, not for too much longer." The Blissey said, "Once I remove those bandages and apply the final treatment, you should be good as new. Unfortunately I'm not allowed do anything about the scars."

Nate shrugged, which only caused him to wince, "I don't mind having a few new scars." He said. "I'm Nate by the way."

"The Wild Jacket," The Blissey said with a nod, "And yes, I've heard about you, I'm Althia. I'm a medic here at Castle Spear Pillar." She said as she walked to a table in the room and opening the containers.

"I kinda figured that much out on my own," Nate said with a chuckle, "Just out of curiosity, what kind of things have you heard about me?"

Althia stopped doing…whatever it was that she was doing, before continuing, "I treat a lot of the guards when they get injured, or pretend to be injured just so they can see me, and some of them have talked about you quite a bit." She said before turning around and walking towards Nate with a white egg in her hand, "Here, eat this." she said as she handed the egg to him.

Nate accepted the egg, though he wasn't sure what to think of it, to be honest it was a bit weird. Deciding to just get it over with, he popped the egg into his mouth and began to chew. There was a bit of a crunch, but then his mouth was overwhelmed with a the creamy sweet taste of citrus and white chocolate that made his eyes widen in surprise.

Nate's reaction made Althia laugh, "My egg treats are what makes the guards continue to fake their injuries." She said, "Now, let's get those bandages off you and I'll contact the guards to have you escorted back to the cages."

Nate swallowed, "Good, because I think these bandages are beginning to itch."

"Good, it means the treatment is working." She said as she began to remove the multiple bandages all over Nate's body. As she did so, Nate looked at the long red-pink lines of varying lengths that the bandages had been hiding. When Althia removed the thick bandage around his leg, Nate not only saw that the scar was much bigger than his other scars, but also that the scar left a bit of an indent in his leg. "Alright now your left should feel a bit awkward to walk on. So for now you shouldn't be making any rapid direction changes."

"Well, good thing mine working doesn't require a lot of movement then." Nate said.

"I know it may be very difficult for you to do, but no talking while I remove the bandage on your face." Althia said as she began to slowly peel the bandage off. The feeling of the skin being tugged was an interesting one and it didn't help the itchy tingling sensation, but soon he had been completely pulled off, "Hm, now there's a conversation starter right there." Althia said, obviously looking at the scar.

"You have a mirror I can look into?" Nate asked.

"To your left," Althia said, "Feel free to look. I need to send for the guards anyway." She said before she walked out of the room.

After the door close, Nate redirected his gaze to the left. Then he tilted his head to get a better look at it the claw marks really stood out, but at least it didn't look gruesome, "Well, that's something I'll probably never get used to." He pointed out, then he grinned, "Maybe the ladies will go crazy over it." he joked, but then his expression dropped as his face paled in horror over the thought, "Oh, hell no!"

* * *

The guards that came to escort him back said nothing about the scars, and the escort back didn't have a lot of talking either. and when they opened the door to the cages, they only shoved him in and closed the door.

Not long after he was shoved in. Molly quickly grabbed Nate and forced his arms begind his back, "Hey take it easy there, I'm still a bit tender." Nate said.

"I wouldn't use the word tender around me so casually right now." Molly said as she forced him to walk to the cage Khan was in. When Nate was put into the cage he was relieved to see that his clothes were in there, as well as his sketchbook and pencils.

"Thanks for leaving me something." Nate said as he began to put his coveralls back on.

Molly shrugged, "My superiors saw no threat in you having a hobby, so they allowed you to keep it." she explained.

"Well, give my thanks to your superiors the next time you see them then." Nate said as he sat down to put his boots back on. As he was tying them, his skin singles as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He looked to see that Khan's gaze was on him. "Oh yeah, the gijinka they threw me too gave some new scars. What do you think?" he said as he tilted his head to give Khan a full view of his facial scar.

"I thought there was no possible way your mug could get any uglier." Khan muttered.

Nate's expression turned to one of hurt, "Ooh that's harsh man. It ain't that bad, chicks dig scars you know."

Khan's expression was dead pan, "If you're going by that logic then I'm a total babe magnet." He said.

"Well, how about we get a second opinion on this." Nate said before turning to the only female in the room, "Hey Molly, is it true that female dig scars?"

Molly seemed to think for a second, "Well, the last gijinka that used that approach on me did getan offer for some oral action." She said.

"See, told you." Nate said to Khan in a proud voice.

"Oh yeah, he was proud of the score too and gladly agreed," Molly said, "But then he found out which mouth I was talking about." She said she said before her ponyta-tail grew and became her second mouth, snarling and take a few chomps out of the air.

"…Is that what you do to all your boyfriends?" Nate asked.

Molly shook her head, "Only the ones my uncle sets me up with," She said.

Nate was confused, "Your uncle?"

"Daedalus." Khan said simply.

Realization came to Nate's eyes, so Molly was the one Boomer was talking about, the one that the guards hope they wouldn't have to deal with as a punishment. But that would mean…

"You know what, I don't wanna know." Nate said.

"Good, because I need to have you escorted back down to the mines pretty soon." Molly said. "And I'm pretty sure that you'll be going back to the princess pretty soon White Bandanna."

The black-hair slave sighed, "Can't wait." Khan muttered.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **Alright, that wraps things up for this chapter, hopefully you all enjoyed it. Sorry it's a bit late, with last Sunday being Easter Sunday I didn't get a lot of time to right and I missed my deadline, but I assure you I will be making an effort so that never happens again.**

 **I want to know what you guys thought of Sheila the Weavile and Althia the Blissey**

 **Shout out to SmilingPrince, thor94, and Blade5678; thanks for reviewing the last chapter. Now the vote still goes for what the next chapter should be; Day of Music, or Council of Seven? Be sure to leave a review telling me your thoughts and submitting in your votes and if you review I'll be sure to give you a shout out in the next chapter.**

 **Alright, that's all I have time for. So until next time…**

 **This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Day of Music and Stories**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

The march back down to the mines was a little uncomfortable for Nate, seeing as he was still a bit tender from his new scars; he was a bit worried about what he was in for. The miners went without breakfast just because he struck first in a fight, and that just sent him to the cages. If what he did was enough to land him a session with Kali as a punishment…he just hoped the miners were alright.

* * *

When the guards brought him to the mine entrance, it was no surprise when that Boomer was the one to open it. Like before, his expression was neutral, but his eyes were a bit harder and slightly glared at Nate. Not really doing anything to ease his worries.

"Your fellow slaves are currently eating breakfast." Boomer said after he had dismissed the guards, "I suggest you join them before the day's work begins." He said as he walked to the mess hall. Nate followed and was a bit relieved, they were eating breakfast, so at least the punishing wasn't that bad.

* * *

When they both entered the mess hall, Nate could feel the mood slowly change, he may have thought that it was just his imagination. But the chatter in the mess hall died down, so he knew that he wasn't.

Though he felt his spirits rise a little when Nicolas and Nexel didn't seem to treat him any differently when he approached them, "Hey guys."

Nicolas laughed, "Dude, what the muk happened to your face?"

Nexel turned to look at Nicolas, "I'm going to guess he got bitch slapped by and Ursaring."

"I was going to guess it was a sexual caress from a Zangoose." Nicolas said with a chuckle.

The jacket-wearing slave chuckled, "Not too far off," Nate said, "I was marked by a Weavile, but at least she was decent enough to give me a shave as well." He said as he rubbed the short stubble on his face.

"Yeah we noticed." Nicolas said.

Nexel nodded, "While you can rock the full beard look, it was becoming a bit too bushy."

"You guys are probably right." Nate said. "So, have you guys eaten breakfast?"

"No," Nexel said, "We were sure that you'd be back, so we decided to wait."

Nate's smile grew a bit bigger, "Thanks guys, you two are real bros."

Nicolas returned his smile, "Hey it's the least we could do." He said, "I mean we are the N-Squad." He said.

Both Nate and Nexel looked at Nicolas, giving him the same look, "Seriously?"

Nicolas sweat-dropped and chuckled awkwardly, "Yeah, when you say it out loud its very stupid. Trust me, it sounded much better in my head."

"I'm sure it did," Nexel said rolling his eyes, "Let's just get our breakfast, it's some kind of gruel."

As the three got up and went to the gijinka serving the gruel, he was back in full spirits and felt that nothing could bring him down.

* * *

Of course, that was what he thought until he tried what they were serving for breakfast. Sure he had been forced to eat some nasty stuff when on his own, especially before Matt and Allie adopted him. He was wild and didn't have access to a lot of food and had to resort to eating his own shit once…he'd rather not think about those days. But this (gruel did they call it?) was on a totally new level of disgusting.

Usually after the first couple bites your gag reflex gets used to it, but nope. With every bite, his gag reflex made it seem like tasting it for the first time. It didn't just taste bad, the texture made it even worse. The gruel looked like a soupy porridge, but it felt like a gelatinous stringy jelly.

Nicolas and Nexel were sitting with them, and in any other situation they'd probably be amused, but they were eating the same gruel and hating it just as much as Nate was, if not more so. In fact, not even the slaves that seemed to have been in these mines for years looked like they could handle the disgusting taste.

"This has to be some new form of torture." Nicolas said, but then he retched and covered his mouth, as if talking was too much for him.

"Probably to get information out of people," Nexel agreed as he pushed the bowl away from him, "I think I'd prefer having no breakfast at all."

"I've literally eaten shit that's tasted better than this." Nate muttered after deciding he had enough and pushed the bowl away from him.

"It's the taste of acting up."

Nate sighed, he knew this was coming eventually, he was surprised it just didn't happen sooner, "Okay Gray, lay it on me." he said.

Gray took a seat across from Nate next to Nexel, his yellow eyes full of disapproval, "To put it simply, there's the non-violent method, the violent method, and then there's just being stupid." Gray said, "Care to guess which one you went with?"

"Um…can I use a lifeline?" Nate asked. While his two friends at the table snickered slightly; Gray didn't look amused, and Nate had no idea why, but the look was strangely familiar to him, "I don't remember. I blanked after I went into meditation. Then the next thing I knew I was in the chambers with a massive headache."

Gray sighed before rubbing his brow, "Take a look around you, and tell me what you see."

Nate, slightly confused at the random request, looked around. Immediately several of the slaves around him looked away from him, seemingly finding a new interest in anything that wasn't him, "I thought the atmosphere seemed different." He muttered.

"Yeah, they've been looking at you the whole time." Nexel explained, "They don't necessarily believe that the Nate we saw was you."

Nate didn't like the sound of that…did he go wild? "Because of…what?" He hoped he didn't go wild.

"When you 'blanked', you became something nobody here in the mines had seen in the time you've been here. You were cold, void of emotion, and looked ready to kill anything. You almost did in fact." Nicolas said. Nate was slightly relieved he didn't go wild, but it still didn't look good.

Nicolas went to explain further, but Gray beat him to it, "A guard wanted to snap you out of your meditative state, and you started to choke him, threatening to snap his neck if whatever the guards were doing to you didn't end. When they did as you asked, you didn't release the guard and was about to kill him. Luckily for you, and in turn the rest of us, one of your slave sisters knocked you out with a shovel."

"That explained the headache I had then," Nate said, then he exhaled in relief, "I really owe it to that slave that knocked me out." Nate said, a slight smile on his face.

"She actually grew in popularity of the course of yesterday's work day," Nicolas said, "She's a pretty nice girl from what I can tell."

Gray nodded, "Her name's Darcy, a bit of an interesting case, but she's a sweet girl."

Nate nodded, "I'll remember that for when I thank her later."

"She deserves thanks from everyone." Gray said, "She, combined with the fact that the guards started it because they were bored, was what kept the family from being severely punished." He said.

Nate looked at the gruel in front of him, it seemed like a pretty severe punishment enough, "Well, it goes beyond that."

Gray's disapproval was replaced by a slight curiosity, Nexel and Nicolas seemed curious as well, "Explain."

Nate figured he'd have to, "You know how I was raised by gijinka, right?" he asked. When everyone at the table nodded, he continued, "My adopted father was a retired guard of a well-known repertoire, he was a lot like you in some ways Gray. Perfectly capable of handling a situation the way anyone else would, but always tried to find an alternative." Nate explained.

"A wise policy." Gray pointed out.

"Yeah, it was that way of thinking that made him very successful at avoiding collateral damage." Nate said, smiling at the memories and stories his mother would tell him about his father's feats, "Even when he was retired he would occasionally help the local guardsman out when he saw fit, one such time was what lend to the arrest of Percy the Ruthless."

"Who the what now?" Nicolas asked.

"Well, that's his title. His real name is Perseus Kurai," Nate said, "He's the eldest son to Drahkul Kurai, the patriarch of the Kurai Mob family, the second most influential family in Sinnoh due to having near complete control of the region's criminal underground. As far as I know only the royal family has more power than they do in this region."

"You have to admit that is impressive in its own right." Nexel pointed out.

"Perhaps, my father always told me they're nothing but slimy lowlifes with no respect for the law and hates how scum like them can just get away with anything all because of the fear their name brings. His eldest son and heir to the title of patriarch was causing trouble in Johto and my father Matt temporarily came out of retirement to capture him and sentenced him to life in prison." Nate muttered bitterly, "But anyway, getting back on track. He taught me everything I know about combat and controlling my wildside, but when we were discovered I wanted nothing more to just give into my wildside and make sure those guards never bothered us and ruined everything."

"I take it this was a while ago?" Gray asked.

Nate nodded, "It was almost four years ago, I was a more reckless teen and a bit more emotionally unstable due to me still in the middle of puberty. I was ready to fight, but my father spoke some sense into me and convinced me to run and made me promise him something." He explained, "That no matter how bad things got or how angry I become, that I would never take someone else's life away from them."

"Oh, I get it," Nicolas said, "So she unintentionally helped you to keep your oath?"

"Yeah," Nate answered.

"I see," Gray said, "Well you seem to have the right intentions in mind, you just have horrible methods of going about them."

"Hey, when you're being bombarded with your inner demons you try to get rid up them as soon as possible." Nate said defensively.

"What those guards did was sick and twisted, there's no doubt about that. It was simply a matter of timing." Gray said, "Had you just endured it for 30 more seconds minimum, Boomer would've put an end to it and no blame would've been placed on you."

Nate snorted, "If I experienced that any longer I'd have been a crying broken mess on the floor."

Gray shrugged, "Crying on the floor, perhaps. Not so much a broken mess." He said, "If there's anything I know about you, you've got a resilient and strong aura, plenty of it too."

"Make no mistake Gray," Nate said, "My demons are a real hell to handle, and having them scream at my face is hard to resist."

Gray chuckled, "I don't make mistakes when it comes to others Nate."

"Not possible," Nate said, "Mistakes are what make us human." Gray only grinned and tapped the side of his nose, causing Nate to sigh, "Fine, keep being cryptic old man."

"I plan to, just make sure that something like yesterday never happens again." Gray said.

Nate nodded, "Don't worry, even if I wanted to I couldn't. The gijinka put a curse on me to make sure of that."

"Good," Gray said with a nod.

 _ **RIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNG!**_

"Time to go to work," Gray said, then his eyes fell to the bowls of gruel, "I'm guessing you boys aren't going to finish those."

Nexel gave Gray a weird look, "…You're joking right?"

"I'll take that as a no," Gray said as he spooned all the gruel into one bowl, then picked it up and began to drink it like it was nectar from the Hall of Origins. When Gray finished, he looked around to see all three of the teen jaws hung open from either shock or disgust. "What?" the elder slaved asked, keeping a total straight face.

"…How?!" All three of them exclaimed.

Gray laughed, "C'mon boys, let's get to work, and we better work hard. It's a short day today."

Nicolas was confused, "Short day?"

The elderly man nodded, "Don't you know?" he asked. When nobody seemed to know, he continued with a very eager grin, "It's music night."

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the castle's library…Aria was having a bit of trouble keeping focused.

"Princess, you're drifting again." An old voice said with a tone that almost sounded disinterested.

Aria jumped and collected herself in almost the blink of an eye, "No, no, I'm completely focused." She said.

The old gijinka sitting across the table from her sighed, "Princess, it doesn't take an Esper to know that was a lie."

"I know," Aria said slumping, her ears and tail dropping a bit, "I'm sorry Adivino."

The gijinka in front of here was Adivino Uranaishi, a very old Alakazam gijinka. He was of average height, with tan wrinkled skin that stretched across what looked to be an old frail frame. He had the pointy spike-like ears of an Alakazam that poked out of his balding gray hair. Rimless half-moon glasses rested on his long slightly pointy nose that had a long thin grey whisker mustache that reached past his shoulders. He was wearing a scholar's outfit or something you'd see a historian wear that was mostly dark yellow and brown.

In front of him on the table was a large text book identical to the one in front of Aria. His dark, slanted, dropping and wrinkly eyes gave the princess a slightly imploring look, "Aria," he said, "I realize you have other things on your mind, but these lessons are very important." He said, "I do want this lesson to be over just as quickly as you do, you know my other duties keep me very busy."

Aria nodded, Adivino wasn't just her tutor. He was her father's personal Esper. The Lords and Ladies of the seven regions each had an Esper, a very powerful psychic-type, to act as the bridges and heads of diplomacy between the regions. Each Esper was regarded as the most powerful telepath in their respected regions, and the most powerful of the Seven Espers served the High King or Queen. But Adivino brought it to a whole new level, he could read every mind in the world, all at once if he concentrated hard enough. Even as he was tutoring Aria he was probably reading several minds all across Sinnoh looking for anything outside of the norm.

"Yes Adivino." Aria said, the shame evident in her tone.

"Now, back to history…" he said, starting his lecture back where he had left off.

* * *

Khan, Echo, Celia, and Faye were in the library as well. During Aria's academic lessons they were free to browse the shelves as long as they stayed within Aria's field of vision. Celia and Echo were both quietly reading a book of fairy tales out loud, mostly because Echo was teaching Celia how to read. After she had learned of the blonde's illiteracy, she immediately offered to teach her. To which Celia gladly accepted.

Faye on the other hand was reading on her own, and was finishing a book about man with two souls, each fighting over control over the man's body. The narrative was unique with the interrupting perspectives of each soul, which lead to some amusing banter, while still having you feel for the man's inner conflict.

As Faye was returning the book to its place on the shelf, she noticed that Khan was by himself and observing his surrounds. While that was no surprise, something seemed…off about him. After putting her current book back, she decided to look for reading material in the shelf he was by.

"Poké for your thoughts?" Faye asked as she scanned the book spines for any interesting titles.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Khan glance her way for a brief amount of time, then he went back to looking around, "Something about this place just gives me a weird feeling."

"How so?" Faye asked as she pulled a decently thick book from its place on the shelf.

Khan shrugged, "I don't know, that's what I don't like about it." he explained, "I hope it goes away, it's giving me a headache." He said before turning to look at Faye, "It's not every day you see a literate slave."

"Considering you see Echo and me every day, that statement isn't necessarily correct," Faye said as she moved to stand next to him, "Mom taught me more than just where the gijinka's pleasure centers are located you know."

Khan managed to keep himself from shuddering, "No I didn't, nor did I need to." He said, causing Faye to smile a bit.

"So, can you read?" Faye asked, somewhat curious. Khan seemed to be pretty smart, but she'd never seen him pick up a book.

"When I choose to." Khan said simply.

Faye raised an eyebrow, "You always this cryptic?"

"There are two steps to being successful." Khan said, not really answering her question, "Step one; never reveal everything you know." He said before turning and walking towards one of the many bookshelves in the library.

At first Faye was confused, but then it came to her, "So that's a yes then." She said, to no one in particular. Then she returned to the spot where she was reading beforehand, thinking that Khan lived up to her image of the White Bandanna rather well.

* * *

"-and so brought the Satoshi Dynasty's rule in Kanto to an end." The Alakazam finished explaining before looking up to see Aria was drifting again. The Esper cleared his throat, bringing Aria out of her daze. Adivino rubbed one of his temples, "Tell you what Aria, if you can give me an acceptable summary of today's history lesson, we can finish up early and you'd be free to go."

Aria seemed to perk up at that, "I can do that." She said as she looked down at the history book in front of her, but as she did so, the book glowed purple before slamming shut, "Eep!" Aria squeaked as he jumped a little, her tail sticking straight up into the air and was stiff as a board.

"No cheating," Adivino said, "Let's see how much you can gather from memory."

Aria was slightly nervous now, "Okay…ummmm," she began, "we were learning about the end of the Satoshi Dynasty's reign in Kanto."

"Very good," Adivino said, "and what caused it?"

"Uhhh…" Aria said, "well, it was around the time that the Pokémon of old first started to become Gijinka." she said, "And the Lord of Kanto at that time did something…really bad."

"Fascinating," Adivino said as he stroked his mustache, "Tell me, what was this 'really bad' thing?"

"I'm getting to that, don't rush me." Aria fumed, Adivino gave an apologetic nod and motioned her to continue, "It was something so bad…the High Queen decided to remove the Satoshi family from the throne thinking that they weren't fit to govern a region."

 _ **THUMP!**_

Both Aria and Adivino turned to see Khan was on one of the library's ladders and had dropped a book onto the floor, "Ah muk." He said.

Aria giggled at the scene, then her eyes lit up in realization, "Now I remember, the GMG!" she said excitedly, "When Pokémon first became gijinka, unlike the livestock Pokémon that never seemed to develop into gijinka. Muk, their pre-evolution, as well as multiple other slime-based Pokémon seemed to be caught in the middle and were seen as abominations." She said, "To the point that the Lord of Kanto led a movement to kill them all known as the Great Muk Genocide, or GMG." She said, "The High Queen was revolted by the Lord's actions, so she saw to it that his family was removed from the throne and never to have a position of power again, thus ending the Satoshi Dynasty's reign. To this day the Muk and all its kind are extinct and are only remembered through the profanity that is based off their name!" she said.

Adivino grinned and clapped his hands, "Very good Princess, you summarized our lesson perfectly and even added to it as well. The GMG is a very tragic event in history that has a definite effect on today's society and we remember it so that another travesty like it never happens again."

Aria nodded in understanding, "So…" She began.

"Yes," Adivino said with a slight chuckle, "you are free to go, but I expect you to be fully attentive for tomorrow's lessons."

"Yay!" Aria cheered, "C'mon everyone, library time is over. No need to put your books back, Adivino will handle it." She said as she got up from her seat. Soon all the slaves had put their books down and followed Aria out of the library.

* * *

Khan took note of the fact that the weird, headache inducing feeling he was experiencing before left when they had exited the library. So there was definitely something up with that place, it was hard to explain, but he was felling some kind of…pull? He shook the thought out of his head and stored it away for later, now he was just wondering what the princess was so excited about. She wasn't exactly the type to drift and daydream from what he could tell. It also didn't help when Aria just lead them back to her wing.

"Perhaps someone can explain to me what's going on?" Khan asked.

Aria looked at Khan with a smile, "Oh right, you're new." She said, "Well, once a week the miners in the lower sectors have music night. I have my own little variant of them with my music lessons." She said before she walked over to the wall, reached out to touch one of the golden thunderbolts, then a few blue sparks came off her tail before she released a surge of blue electricity into the wall.

The electricity seemed to travel through the thunderbolts on the walls, lighting the room up with a blue glow. Then after the electricity seemed to focus on a certain area of the wall, creating what looked like the outline of a strangely shaped door. When the electricity faded, there was a click and a hidden door opened slightly.

Aria pulled the door open even more to reveal what looked like a secret room, the princess then motioned for the others to follow her before stepping through the doorway.

Khan was the last one to enter, and when he did, Aria spread out her arms in a welcoming gesture, "Welcome Khan, to my royal music chamber." She said.

The room was designed very similar to the rest of Aria's chambers, but it looked very much like a professional recording studio with multiple types of string instruments hanging on the wall with even a grand piano in the corner and a drum set as well. There was also a performance stage with some microphones on it with speakers on its sides.

"Impressive," Khan admitted, "but given where we are it shouldn't be that big of a surprise."

Aria shrugged, "Well we got some time to kill before my instructor gets here…how about a performance?" Before Khan could answer, Aria already started running around the room, she was moving so fast that she looked like a white and blue blur.

Khan's eyes struggled to follow her as she darted back a force. He was expecting her to head for the piano or take one of the various violins on the shelf, but when she got on stage. Khan raised an eyebrow upon seeing Aria with a guitar in her hands.

Aria picked some of the strings, and continued pick as she adjusted the pegs at the top of the instrument. When she seemed to be satisfied with the sound, she blended down to pick up an amp chord that was on the floor and plugs it into her amp.

She picked a few more strings to make sure that the amps were working, they were. Then she whipped her hand down and struck a long and loud chord. As the chord played out, she started to strum a line of the same notes, first they were soft but then grew louder and louder. When the repetition ended, Aria's hands went to work as she began to play a rock song. **(1)**

The only thing more surprising than her instrument choice, what that she was incredible at playing it; Khan accounted that to the fact that he didn't expect a petite little princess like Aria to be able to play this well on an electric guitar. The song she was playing was very old, if he remembered correctly it was a song that existed before the NP Epidemic, but it was still very energetic and something that filled Khan with confidence and almost made him want to dance, almost. He didn't know the words, but he still felt the urge to sing them.

Faye was enjoying the music as well and tapped her foot along with the beat. Echo tapped her foot as well and was bobbing her head a little bit, but Khan had a feeling that Echo was holding back or restraining herself. Celia however, seemed to know at least some of the lyrics.

" _I will travel across the land_ ," she sang softly, " _Searching far and wide."_ Her voice would occasionally sing another lyric, but she mostly just hummed. Aria continued to play with confidence an ease, never once hitting a wrong note.

She finished the song strongly and immediately Echo and Celia began to clap with Faye shortly joining them and Khan softly clapped. Seeing them applaud brought a smile to Aria's face and she curtsied.

"A wonderful performance your highness, a pity that you didn't sing as well," A musical voice, that Khan hadn't heard before, said with pride, "I'm glad to know you've been practicing."

The slaves quickly turned around, slightly startled at the voice. Aria however, wasn't dazed at all; probably because she saw them come in, "I'm glad that my practicing can be noticed, Komori."

Komori was a female gijinka that possessed a beauty that even Nikki would be jealous of. She was about the same height as Echo and Aria. She had the willowy figure of a dancer with alabaster skin that looked like it had never seen the sun. Her long light green hair was style so it fell on her left where it flowed like a waterfall almost all the way to the floor. Her round face was beautifully sculpted with pale pearlique lips, an oval-shaped blue gem in the center of her forehead, and thick lashes that framed her light blue eyes.

Khan would've been more surprised, but it figures that the daughter of the high king would be taught by the Legendary of Music.

Aria put her guitar down then jumped off the stage and ran to Komori and gave her a hug. The Legendary gave a soft laugh and patted Aria's head, "You'd think you didn't see me at your last lesson." She softly said, mostly to herself, but she let the princess hug her for a few seconds before separating herself from her, "Now, I know you can't wait to get this lesson underway, but…" she said before walking around Aria and walked directly up to Khan, "Who are you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Normally being addressed by a Legendary would leave any human in awe. But Khan, as usual, showed no reaction, "Another slave." He said simply. There was no point in saying anything else.

"The brand on your forehead told me that much, it also leads me to believe you're Unova-born. They have a tendency to brand their slaves somewhere above their neckline." Komori explained, "But that doesn't answer my question, I know _what_ you are, but not _who_ you are."

Khan was silent and the girls were somewhat confused by his hesitation, was Khan unsure of how to answer? "Khan Kensaki, the White Bandanna." Well that answered that question.

Komori made an "Hmmm," sound as she began to walk around Khan, looking him up down and examining him like he was livestock. "Perhaps…" she softly murmured, stopping to prod and squeeze Khan's arms and shoulders, "…if only there was some more meat on those bones, but I think I can work with this." She said.

"Ummm…what are you talking about?" Aria asked.

Komori gave an excited smile, "Well, as you know. Now that you're of age, suitors from all over the world will come here to court you in the hopes of winning your hand."

Aria's expression fell into a rather grumpy one, "Unfortunately." She muttered.

"I'm sure your first suitor won't come for a while, but it's never too early to learn. Now there are several ways different gijinka can court you, but one of them is to attempt to sweep you off your feet at a ball." She explained, "Now I was hesitant to start these lessons simply because I didn't have a proper, meaning male, dance partner for you to practice with." Then she turned to Khan, "And now I do."

Now that really surprised Khan, along with everyone else in the room, "...come again?"

"Sure he's a bit malnourished and only not very far from being skin and bones…" Komori pointed out.

Khan rolled his eyes, "Eight years of living on the run doesn't do much for body building." Khan grumbled.

Komori ignored him, "But he's still a male which makes him a better practice partner than the rest of us, the last thing we want is for you to be more accustomed to dancing with girls. You wouldn't know what to do when you started dancing with a boy."

Aria looked at Khan and then back at Komori, "But…seriously?"

"Oh come on," Komori said, sounding more like a school girl than a teacher, "He's not that bad looking, even for a human." She added, then she looked towards the other girls with a grin, "Wouldn't you three agree?"

Celia and Echo gave an "Uhhh…" as they were taking a sudden interest in anything that wasn't Komori or Khan.

Faye looked Khan up and down before she shrugged, "I've seen better." She said with a relatively straight face, but she couldn't hide the warm pink that was spreading across her cheeks.

Komori only giggled at their reactions before clapping her hands together, "Now then, let's get started." It was quite obvious that she was eager to begin. Khan, however, was less than thrilled.

* * *

After about ten minutes, it was hard to tell whether the current situation was awkward or humorous. It all really depended on who's perspective you were looking from.

Using her psychic powers, Komori was using several instruments that were in the room to play a simple waltz melody, "Keep your eyes up Aria, your feet aren't the ones that are going to be trying to court you. And try to loosen up Khan, these lessons may be for Aria but as her dance partner you can't be stiff as a block of wood." Even though Komori sounded more like an instructor again, she couldn't hide that she found the scene in front of her was very amusing; Faye, Echo, and Celia were showing amusement too in their own respective ways.

The princess and the slave were currently dancing in a basic waltz. Khan's hand was on Aria's waist while hers was on his shoulder while their other hands were joined. Aria removed her gaze from her feet to look at Khan, who was looking very stiff and showing no signs of loosening up.

"Forgive me," Khan said in a low voice, "I'm just not comfortable in this current situation."

Aria smiled, "What, am I that bad?" she asked innocently.

Khan looked away and Aria giggled, _'Oh Arceus, how can anyone handle that?'_ He thought to himself.

"No, it's not that." he said, his voice cracking a bit. Only causing all the girls in the room try to hold in their laughs. Khan felt a heat rush to his cheeks, this was absolute torture.

* * *

Several hours later, in the slave rest area of the stables. While the slaves were waiting for the meal call, a particular slave girl was causing what could lead to a bit of trouble for her.

"The parade was breathtaking, the people of Kalos wanted to make sure that the newly appointed Champion of Kalos felt welcome and proud of their accomplishment." The young slaves that had gathered in front of Riet listened with great interest as Riet told her story. Even some of the older slaves were listening as well, among them was Windy and Broehain and Windy.

"But soon all was silent," She said, pausing the story the build suspense. "There was an unexpected visitor, towering above everyone else by several feet, the crowds parted to let him through. The creator of the Ultimate Weapon; AZ. He approached the champion, with only one request…a battle. A battle to help him understand what being a Pokémon trainer is like."

Some of the older slaves were rather impressed; not just because Riet was a great story teller, but she didn't seem at all afraid of what would happen to her if she got caught.

"The battle may have been a great one, but it was clear who the victor of the two was," Riet said, "As the ancient king recalled his fainted Pokémon, he felt something. Something he hadn't felt is so many years, he felt peace. After 3000 years of pain…he felt peace." She continued, a peaceful look coming onto her face. "AZ felt the feeling overwhelm him, it allowed him to see what being a trainer was really about. And that allowed him to let go of all his pain and sorrow the Ultimate Weapon had brought to him, imagine the relief and freedom that he must've felt in that moment."

The slaves were so engrossed in her story, they failed to notice a new face entering the rest area.

Riet then tilted her head upwards, as if she was looking through the ceiling and into the sky, "Then AZ felt a light come over him, and when he looked up…he saw-" Riet was cut off when a gray scaly hand grabbed her hair and roughly pulled her up, causing her to cry out in pain.

The slaves jumped from the sudden appearance, they looked to see one of the guards; a Blaziken gijinka. The gijinka had long legs that added to his height that already towered over even the tallest of the slaves there. His tanned build was rather thin, but his arms still had some tight and well defined muscle. In addition to that, the tan skin on his arms gradually became grey and scaly. His pale blonde hair His hooked nose was tinted red and very sharply pointed, resembling a beak. The red on his nose extended up his face between his eyes like war paint. He didn't have any eyebrows, but instead a red v-shaped crest and seemed to set his blue-eyes gaze into a permanent glare.

The gijinka glanced around the rest area, his gaze intimidating everyone, "Well…look at this, enjoying a little story time?" he asked "I thought this was a stable, not a preschool." He added as he turned to look at Riet, lifting her up so that she was at eye level. Her face clenched from the pain.

Broehain could feel himself shaking, both from fear and…something else. He didn't realize that he was taking a step forward until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over it to see Windy slowly shaking her head.

"You should know better than to fill their head with those stupid tales," the guard said a smile coming onto his face, "you never know what might happen to you." he said before using his free hand to squeeze Riet's cheeks with his thumb and pointer finger, his claw-like fingernails digging into her skin.

Broehain couldn't take it anymore, and before he knew it, he had opened his mouth and…

"Hey, leave her alone!"

The room fell into silence and Broehain took a step back from shock. He could feel the blood leave his face and his heart began to beat even faster. What did he just do?

The guard was completely stiff, his expression morphing into an angry glare, "Who said that?" he asked – well demanded probably would've been a better term – as he removed his hand from Riet's face. The spots on Riet's cheeks where the guard's claws had been began to bleed.

…Nobody spoke up. "Was I just hearing things then?" without letting go of Riet, the guard began to walk. Looking intensely at all the slaves, he was silent for what felt like forever before speaking up, "As expected of you humans. Very well, if none of you are going to rat them out…" He said before tightening his grip on Riet's hair, causing a pained grunt to come from her, "Your little story teller will pay the price." The wrist of his free hand burst into flames that began to spread to the rest of his hand.

Broehain felt the feeling from before return, but this time when he tried to move. His body failed him. He could only watch as the guard began to tense his body to deliver the Fire Punch.

"Derek, that's enough!" a new voice commanded.

Windy, Broehain, and the other slaves turned to look at the new arrival. Windy's eyes widened slightly, it was the Bisharp she and Riet met on their first day. But that wasn't the surprising part, the more surprising part was that he wasn't wearing his armor and instead donning more casual clothing underneath a metallic grey leather jacket, the signature coat of Sinnoh's military. Without his armor, it was easier to see his metallic skin that was the color of polished ebony. Without his helmet, Windy was able to see his silver white hair was style into a chonmage. His silver eyes had a hard steely gaze that was more authoritative than intimidating.

The guard – or Derek – stopped before letting out an aggravated growl, "If I recall correctly Siegfried, today is your day off."

"It is. I was hoping to go for a peaceful evening ride down along the mountainside, when I come in to see this." Siegfried explained, "And, unless I'm not remembering correctly, the stables aren't within your patrol range."

Derek turned to address the Bisharp behind him, having to look down since he was at least a foot taller than him, "Considering my promotion, I felt that restrictions on my range were unnecessary."

"I am aware that Admiral Daedalus has _considered_ you for a promotion, but you haven't been promoted yet." Siegfried stated, his gaze briefly going to Riet, "And threatening and attacking slaves for no reason is unbecoming of a future captain, I ought to report such behaviors to the Admiral."

Derek snorted, "Don't tell me you actually care for these humans?" he asked, only laughing when Siegfried remained silent, "You'd think your demotion would harden you up when it came to matters like this, but I can see you're still soft; yet you call yourself a steel-type." He said tauntingly, "Do you really think that after your treachery all those years ago, Daedalus would believe anything you reported to him?"

Derek's comment caused Siegfried's fists the clench tightly, but he remained silent.

"If you must know," Derek went on, "this one was telling stories of the old times, and you know what stems from those stories. Thoughts of rebellion and attempting to escape, and we don't want that." He said, "I'm simply making sure she knows her place."

Siegfried's frown deepened, "If she's acting out of line, then take it up with her supervisor. Since the stables aren't within your limits, _you're_ the one acting out of line by taking things into your own hands."

Derek smirked, "Isn't that what you're doing now by confronting me?" he asked.

Siegfried was silent for a few seconds before replying, "As you said, today is my day off."

Derek's smirk all but vanished and now the corners of Siegfried mouth were twitching. There was a moment of silence before Derek made a disgruntled sound and released Riet's hair, allowing her to fall and land quite hard onto the ground. "This isn't over." Derek muttered under his breath, it wasn't entirely clear whether he was saying that to Siegfried or to Riet, before walking out of the room and shoving past the Bisharp.

Riet groaned as she rubbed her scalp, she looked up to see Siegfried looking down at her, "Watch yourself." He stated simply before turning to one of the other slaves, "You, hitch up one of the Zebstrika for me." the slave nodded and walked out of the room with the Bisharp following suit.

It was Broehain and Windy that were the first to approach Riet, "Are you alright?" Broehain asked.

"I'll live," Riet said softly as she got up. When she was on her feet, she looked down at Broehain, "You know that was a big risk you took, right?"

Broehain looked down, "Yeah, I had no idea what came over me. It just came out."

Riet laughed and ruffled Broehain's hair, "I think I'm started to rub off on you." she said, "Just try to hold it in next time." She added before looked back at the entrance, "Seriously, who was that asshole?"

"Are you referring to Derek or Siegfried?" one of the other slaves asked. When Riet shrugged the slave continued, "Derek is rather infamous to the other slaves and among the guards. To put it simply, he's an arrogant prick that thinks very highly of himself. It doesn't help that his skills have helped him rise through the ranks."

"And what about Siegfried?" Windy asked.

"He's…the rare kind of guard. Just about all guards either don't give a muk about us or love to torment us, Siegfried is one of those guards that may actually care, a few years ago he'd do whatever he could to make things easier for us, it was only subtle." The slave explained, "Among the guards he's a disgrace, among the slaves he's a bit of a knight."

"Is that what that muk-er was talking about when he mentioned that Siegfried committed treachery?" Riet asked.

The slaved nodded, "Did Madame Nikki mention that there was a slave that managed to get past all the guards?" he asked, they all nodded, "Well, he didn't do it on his own. Who do you think helped him?"

All of them, including Windy, were caught off guard, "What?"

"Yep, when his superiors found out, they were furious. They punished him by stripping him of his ranking and made it so that he could never be promoted again while he serves here at the castle. As if it wasn't bad enough that the slave never made it down the mountain."

Both Riet and Windy looked back towards the entrance, again they were somewhat confused. Why would a gijinka do that for a slave?

"Riet?"

Riet looked down to see one of the younger slaves looking up at her. The slave was a little girl with a brand on her cheek that looked very recent.

"In the story," the child began to say, "what did AZ see when he looked up?"

Riet quickly looked back at the doorway to make sure there were no guards that could be within earshot, the she leaned down so that she was at eye level with the little kid, "He saw his lost Pokémon Floette, the one he had been searching 3000 years for. All that time it had been waiting; and now that AZ had made peace with himself and let go of all his pain, Floette could return to him."

The girl smiled, or at least tried to, but since as her cheek was stretched, it clearly hurt to smile. The sight caused Riet's blood to boil, but she tried not to show it as she patted the girl on the head.

 _ **RIIIIIIIIINNNNNNG!**_

There was the call for meal time. Riet stood up straight as the little girl turned around and went back to, who Riet assumed, were her parents. Then Riet went with Windy and Broehain to the feeding area, eager to get some food in her belly after the day's work.

* * *

A bow was slowly dragged across the strings, the sound stopping only so the player could adjust the violin's tuning pegs. When he was satisfied with the sound, Gray looked around him, a proud and eager smile stretching his old wrinkled features. It was quite obvious that this night was what he looked forward to the most. About a dozen slaves, give or take, were currently getting their instruments ready. They didn't have a lot when it came to variety, they had violins, drums, and only a year ago had they gotten some horns. While the quality of their instruments wasn't the best, Gray thought they produced the loveliest music possible.

When it seemed that all the musicians were ready, Gray turned to their pretty large audience, who was eager for music night to officially begin.

The sight before him rose a chuckle out of him, "You know how we do it," he said before he placed the violin of his shoulder. Set the bow against the strings, the other violinists assumed the same position. Then they all play one single note, drawing it out in a soothing melody.

 _ **CLAP!**_

Instantly the music quickened and Gray, along with the other violinists, began to fiddle a very quick and upbeat tune. Soon the drummers began to bang their instruments and the horn players began to blow to had a more stronger and more intense feel to the music. Upon hearing the faster song, the miners were quick to pick of the beat and began dancing along. None of them necessarily having a distinct style, they were just dancing.

* * *

Nate wasn't dancing, instead he was watching from the sidelines with Nexel and Nicolas. Now normally he gladly join in on the dancing, but instead he was looking for someone.

"Do you see her?" he asked his two mine brothers. While Nate could see pretty well, Nicolas and Nexel were a few inches taller than him which meant that they had a slightly better view. Plus Nate had no idea what they looked like so he kind of needed the help.

"I think I see her over there, c'mon." Nexel said before he started to walk onto the dance floor with Nate and Nicolas following close behind.

They weaved their way through the crowd before Nexel stopped, "There she is."

Nate walked around Nexel and looked at the slave he was pointing at before walking up to her. Her back was to him so he tapped her on the shoulder to get her to turn around, "Darcy?" The slave turned around, and upon seeing him her eyes widened slightly and she took a small step back, Nate reflexively raised his hands defensively, "I'm not here to cause trouble, I just want to thank you."

The look in Darcy's eyes was quickly replaced by confusion, "You're thanking me…for knocking you out with a shovel?" she asked.

Nate shrugged, a smile coming onto his face, "You stopped me from doing something I knew I would've regretted. Even if it was through the use of blunt force."

The somewhat odd look Darcy was giving him didn't really leave her face, "…you're welcome?" she said.

Nate nodded before turning around and walking back to Nexel and Nicolas. As he did so, he swore he heard Darcy mutter something about him being weird under her breath. Laughing softly to himself, he decided that now he could enjoy the music.

* * *

Music night continued without interruption, and in the castle above them, the gijinka enjoyed the music as well. Their songs traveled through the vents and while the slaves in the castle barely heard the muffled songs, and the gijinka picked the music up quite a bit more clearly through their heightened sense of hearing.

Though it wasn't just the gijinka that could clearly hear the music a bit more clearly…

* * *

In the Princess' wing of the castle, Echo was tidying up one room while the other slaves were cleaning up other rooms. Aria normally kept the wing pretty clean, but there were still a few things that she left to her slaves.

Despite her headscarf pinning them down, her Zubat ears could hear the music almost as well as a gijinka could. Hearing the music brought a small nostalgic smile to her face. And as she continued to listen, she began to dance as she cleaned. Echo's body flowed with the music like an ocean current, never missing a beat as she moved around the room, completely lost to the music.

"Ahem."

Echo let out a small squeak. She didn't know how it was possible, but she froze in mid step and jumped at the same time, which unfortunately lead he to lose balance and begin to stumble. But before she could make an effort to catch herself, a hand clasped around her wrist and stopped her fall. When she regained her footing, she turned around to see Khan's red and gold eyes looking down at her.

Echo felt heat flood her cheeks as her face turned Cheri red, "H-h-how how long…?"

"Not long, but long enough." Khan said simply.

Echo dipped her head and started to mutter out an apology, at least what Khan assumed was an apology. The stammering did make it a bit difficult to tell for sure. She slightly raised her gaze to look at him, trying to gauge Khan's expression for any emotion. All she got was that Khan's eyebrow was slightly raised.

"The princess sent me to check on your progress, can't say I expected that." He said, causing Echo to turn an even deeper red. He looked around the room "Impressive, and the room looks pretty clean too."

Echo slightly perked a little, did he just…

Echo smiled and opened her mouth, but Khan held up a hand before Echo could say anything, "Don't mention it." he said.

"B-but still, th-thanks." She said, glancing up as Khan's hair, "Have I…have I-I e-ever m-mentioned tha-that your hair l-l-looks nice?" she added with a giggle. Khan didn't respond, he simply turned around and walked out of the room. But Echo saw something flash in Khan's eyes, she just wasn't sure what it was.

* * *

"I've received word from the Espers, travel has been going smoothly and the Lords and Ladies all should arrive on time for the council tomorrow." Adivino told Plasmane.

"Thank you," The king said, briefly bowing his head in gratitude, "I trust that Aria's lessons are going well?"

Adivino sighed, "For the most part, she's learning, but still has a long way to go before she's ready to assume the throne." He said.

Plasmane chuckled, "Do I need to bring up what I was doing at that age? I don't think you've forgotten."

"Circumstance, my king," Adivino said, "A matter of circumstance. Though I do feel a need to bring up something I feel should've been addressed when you first brought that group of slaves here to this castle. One of those slaves has a…uniquely complicated mind."

The Luxray didn't need to ask which slave he was referring to, "How so?"

"It's jagged, almost painful to look through, it makes it difficult to focus on anything going on in that mind. And the memories contained are…fuzzy and hard to view. All I could discern from them was the pain and emotion attached to them, yet no thoughts or visuals. I'm not sure if it would be such a good idea to continue to-"

"I don't think we have anything to worry about," Plasmane interrupted with a calm and level voice. "Nikki has already looked through it and she didn't have any worrying to report. I feel like that's enough to go by, for now. But we'll keep an eye out."

Adivino was silent before he nodded, "Very well, I will trust your judgment." Plasmane nodded and walked out of the library.

* * *

Music night ended with a slightly slower, but still very epic number about the mining slaves that left all those in the room with a desire to go into the mines and dig, but it was time to pack it up for music night.

Nate was a bit tired from all the dancing, but when he saw Gray walking towards him he knew that the night wasn't over just yet, "Nate, come with me." Gray said when he reached him. Nate didn't ask any questions as he followed him.

Nate was slightly curious when Gray brought Nate to an area where a lot of the younger mine slaves were sitting, "After music night ends, the little ones like to gather around and listen to stories. I thought you should join in this time around."

* * *

Aria had just finished getting ready for bed when there was a knock at her door, she walked over just in time to see Celia open the door and let her father in, "Daddy? What are you doing here?"

Plasmane raised an eyebrow at Aria, "What, a father can't say goodnight to his daughter?" he asked.

"I guess not, but that can't be the only reason." Aria pointed out.

"Clever as your mother," the king murmured to himself before continuing, "I'm here to remind you that tomorrow is the Council of Seven."

Aria's eyes widened, "It is?!"

Now that somewhat surprised him, "We've been reminding you every week ever since your birthday." Aria's only respond was a nervous laugh and an awkward grin, which drew a chuckle out of Plasmane. "So I suggest that you get a good night's sleep. You'll need to be fully awake during the meeting, because trust me they can get rather boring." Plasmane turned around to leave.

"Wait," Aria said, causing Plasmane to stop and look over his shoulder, "Do you really think I can do this?"

Plasmane smiled, "If I didn't I wouldn't be bringing you with me. I know it make seem scary, but it's in our blood to face things that seem scary and emerge victorious. You'll be fine." He assured her, but Aria didn't seem convinced. After a minute of thought, Plasmane got an idea, "I know you're a little too old for bedtime stories, but I think it'll help you."

* * *

"Why me?" Nate asked

Gray shrugged, "Why not? I'm sure you have several stories you could tell, plus I'm sure these kids have a few questions for you, or rather…just one." he said gesturing to the kids.

One of the kids that was closest to Nate and Gray spoke up, "What was it like, not being a slave?"

Nate had to think for a moment, looking at all the younger slaves that were looking at them expectantly. He let out a chuckled, "Let me tell you, it wasn't easy." Nate said, "But if I have to be honest, I'm kinda the wrong person to ask since I don't really have many stories to tell." None that Nate felt could be told to children anyway, "Should you ever get a chance to talk to the White Bandanna; I'm sure he'd be able to tell you way better stories on what it's like." Well Nate didn't know that for sure; Khan didn't seem like the story telling type, but he had to say something to take their interest off of him.

Gray patted Nate on the shoulder, "Well maybe your stories can wait for another time, but for now…" he said turning to the kids, "I'll tell you a story I haven't told in a while, it is a story that takes place not long after the NP Epidemic was released."

Plasmane walked with aria into the bedroom and Aria climbed into bed while Plasmane settled into a nearby chair, "This is a story about something that happened not long after our ancestor Surge released the New Pokérus."

* * *

 **(A.N. Hey guys, just a heads up. This next bit is going** **to be a bit interesting because I'm trying something new and it may get confusing. So here's a key:** _Italics are when Gray is talking_ **and** underlined is when Plasmane is talking **and** _underlined italics is both of them talking_ **)**

* * *

The world's Pokémon had released themselves from their trainer's pokeballs and were beginning to gain their independence away from their old human masters. _Humanity was dying while the world's Pokémon did nothing to help them, any feelings of friendship between them and their trainers was replaced with drunken power, sometimes if the epidemic didn't kill the humans it was their own Pokémon that did the job. And they made Surge their King out of gratitude for releasing the New Pokérus._ The epidemic was bad enough, but the Pokémon didn't know how to properly channel their new abilities, and so there were even more unwanted casualties, they needed a leader that had grown up with the enhanced power and could show them how not to be controlled by their power rather than the other way around, and that is why Surge accepted the responsibility of king.

During the first years of his rein there were multiple Pokémon that wanted the crown for themselves, but strangely that wasn't Surge's biggest concern. _However there was one human that was unaffected by the epidemic and didn't like how things were and sought to change it._ There was a human that that wanted to rule. To this day remains unnamed, instead he's only known through the ironic title the remains of humanity bestowed upon him; the Savior.

 _With his sword he fought in defense of his fellow humans._ He was a terrorist with no empathy for others other than himself. _He was seen as a symbol of hope and peace._ He was a sword wielding barbarian that cut down any Pokémon that went against him. _He prevented the deaths of multiple humans_ by massacring dozens of Pokémon, women and children included, but that wasn't enough to satisfy him.

 _After a while the Savior decided that to truly make a change, he'd have to talk to the king._ After a while this 'Savior' had a new target; our ancestor Surge. He slaughtered any Pokémon that came up against him as he fought his way to Spear Pillar. _The story ends with the Savior challenging Surge to a battle._

* * *

Gray looked at the children around him, "No one knows for sure what happened after that. The exact fate of the Savior is unknown, the popular conclusion is that Surge didn't even battle the Savior at all and instead had his servants torture him endlessly until his body gave out. Some say that the Savior beat Surge, but spared his life out of mercy before dying from his wounds. Some even believe that the Savior doesn't even exist and that he's just a bedtime story."

"Well, which is it?" one of the kids asked.

Gray smiled and shrugged, "I don't know, that's for you to decide." He said before turning to Nate, "What do you think?"

Nate didn't immediately respond, in fact it didn't seem like he had heard Gray at all. Sometime while Nate was listening to the story he had gone into his own thoughts. This wasn't the first time he had heard this story, his father Matt had told it to him a few times, but this time when he heard it…his body seemed to tingle all over, and it also filled him with…nostalgia?

"Nate, are you listening?"

Gray's voice pulled Nate out of his thoughts, "Sorry, I drifted. What did you say?"

"I asked what do you think of the story and how you think it ended."

Nate shrugged, "I personally don't see the Savior as a hero, just some guy doing what he felt was right. I don't really care much for how it ends, it clearly wasn't in favor of the humans."

"We don't know that for sure, after all. None of us were alive during that point in history." Gray said, "But either way, we should all get ready for bed." Gray said. As Nate made his way to the sleeping area, he couldn't stop thinking about the tingling feeling in his body. Maybe it was just his wildside trying a new approach.

* * *

"Okay Dad, while it was a good story. I don't see what that has to do with me." Aria said.

"After he challenged Surge, Surge was able to overcome and defeat the Savior in combat. And if our history records tell us anything, it's that Surge was no battler, and yet he was able to face the Savior head on and emerge victorious." Plasmane explained, "And if he could do it, I don't see why you can't."

Aria smiled, "Thanks." Plasmane returned her smile and ruffled her hair.

"Try to get some sleep, I need you bright eyed and bushy-tailed by eight." Plasmane said as he got up.

Aria giggled, "You know full well that my tail isn't busy until nine."

Plasmane gave a short laugh, "Not my problem, now go to sleep." He said as he left the room. Aria nestled into her covers and closed her eyes, still nervous about tomorrow, but at least she was a bit more confident.

* * *

Khan watched as Plasmane left the room, his mind almost swimming, the last time he heard that story was over a decade ago. Back before he first escaped, the story was told rather differently though. As he heard the story, his mind was swimming with thoughts, a small voice in his head kept telling him that the story was wrong, which was weird. From the way he's had to live his life he's made up several stories, so why was that he seemed to care so much about the accuracy of this one? It gave him a feeling similar to the one he felt in the library earlier.

Khan decided that it would be best to put away those thoughts for a later time, instead he thought about how any minute now he'd be escorted back to the cages and took a guess on how he'd get tortured tonight.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

 **(1) - If you haven't guessed it, Aria was playing a rock cover of the original Pokemon theme song.**

* * *

 **Well…so much for giving you guys an update every two weeks.**

 **Yeah guys I'm not dead and neither is this story, I'm really sorry for the extremely late update (I mean the last update was literally 3 months ago as of yesterday). But these past three months have been pretty busy for me, I graduated high school, my family recently moved so I've had to do loads of house work in order to prep our old house for selling, I registered for college classes, I've been looking for a job all summer and so far have failed, and finally I'm currently in a musical and recently the rehearsals are taking up a great deal of my free time.**

 **I realize those may just seem like excuses, but trust me when I say I'm really sorry. So to make it up to the readers that are still here I decided to give you guys a long chapter, unfortunately I think thinks got a bit clunky near the end since I was really have trouble with how to make the scenes flow. Be sure to tell me what you think by leaving a review.**

 **Speaking of reviews, big shout out to SmilingPrince, Nightwolfs, and Mystery Again for reviewing the last chapter.**

 **I hope to see all of you next time; the next chapter will feature the Lords/Ladies of the seven regions in the Council of Seven.**

 **Which brings me to the question of the chapter; what are your predictions on what gijinka each Lord/Lady is? Also tell what you thought about the story of the Savior, was it nice to get a bit of this world's lore?**

 **See you, hopefully, in two weeks. This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: The Council of Seven**

 **-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

The council room was rather simple, the chamber was one of the highest rooms in Castle Spear Pillar. It was round and rather spacious with large windows that naturally lit up the enter room, but if needed there were other light sources.

The only furniture in the room was a large table that the Lords and Ladies sat around. The table was a seven-sided shape, one side for each region. Each side had a specific stone or material to indicate which region ruler sat where. Sinnoh's was a dark grey metal veined with gold, Hoenn's was made of marble, Johto's side was made of bronze, Kalos' was made of red agate, Kanto's was made of amber, Unova was a mixture of onyx and obsidian, and finally Alola's side was marked with coral. The smooth tabletop was covered in foggy quartz with a world map carved into it.

A couple servants were preparing the room for the council that was scheduled to happen that day, but despite doing this every year. The king had to be there to remind the servants of a few key details.

"How many times must I remind you, the Lady of Alola doesn't need a chair." Plasmane said to the servants that were working to prepare the council room.

The servant muttered an apology as they removed the chair from the pointed out section. Plasmane shook his head and turned his gaze towards the clock, their honored guests would be arriving in an hour. He hoped that Aria was close to being ready.

* * *

"I am _so_ not even close to being ready for this!"

Faye rolled her eyes for what might've been the seventh time in the past hour alone, "Princess I've said it once, I've said it twice, I've lost track of how many times I've said it; you're blowing this out of proportion." Faye said.

Aria, Faye, Echo, and Celia were currently in Aria's closet, which might as well have been a whole other room, where Aria was in the process of going into a nervous breakdown. It was a miracle that the three slaves had managed to get her to get ready, now they were helping her pick out an outfit.

"But what if I mess up? This is the first time I'm meeting more than half the gijinka that are going to be in there and one day I'm going to be ruling over them which means I have to make a good impression but if I don't they may think I'm incapable of ruling them which means that when I take the crown they won't take me seriously and if they don't take me seriously they'll just do whatever they want which means that I've disgraced the family name and Daddy will be disappointed in me and-"

"Aria," Celia interrupted, "breathe."

Or rather Faye was picking an outfit while Celia was making an effort to remind Aria to prevent her face from turning blue from a lack of oxygen. Echo on the other hand was a good few feet from the princess due to the blue sparks that kept coming off of her tail.

Faye's hand stopped on a certain dress as she pulled it out and showed it to Aria, "How about this one?" she asked the princess as she held it up.

Now while most of Aria's clothes had a more light blue color scheme, the dress Faye was holding up was decorated with sunny yellow and royal purple flowers. The dress was in remarkable condition, but it had a relatively older feel than the other dresses.

For the first time since she woke up, Aria seemed to relax as a smile came onto her face as she walked towards Faye and ran a hand across the silky fabric, "This dress was my mom's dress, I forgot that it was in here," she said before going silent for a couple seconds. Aria came out of her daze before taking the dress out of Faye's hands, "I think it'd be fitting to wear something of my mom's for an occasion such as this."

Celia looked at the dress, "It's a very nice dress…why haven't you worn it before?" Aria was silent, to the point that Celia began to worry, "I'm sorry, it wasn't my place and-" Aria held up a hand and Celia stopped talking.

"It's fine, I haven't thought to wear it because it was meant for-" It was then that a knock was heard on the door and the smile, as well as most of the color in Aria's face disappeared. "Don't come in!" Aria shouted as she began to put the dress on, "I'm not decent- I mean I'm not ready, go away!"

Her pleas however were ignored as the girls heard the door open, "Don't get your tail in a twist, it's only me."

The sound of Khan's voice was a slight relief to the princess, but it was rather short lived, "That doesn't make me any more decent, don't come in!"

"Princess, I'm forbidden from entering your washroom, bedroom, and closet even when you're having a good day. Why would I decide to enter the restricted areas when you're in your current state of stress?" Aria didn't respond, instead she looked at Echo and made a motion with her head towards the closet entrance. Echo nodded in understanding, slightly relieved for the excuse to be farther away from the princess' sparks.

* * *

Upon leaving the closet, she found Khan leaning his back against the wall adjacent to the closet's entrance, Khan looked at her without turning his head, "She's not taking any chances?" he asked, Echo nodded in response, "Smart girl." Echo quirked an eyebrow at him, "No, I wouldn't have gone in even if she didn't send you out."

That answer seemed to satisfy Echo and it was silent for a little bit, of course this was normal, but that didn't really make it any less awkward. Khan took another look at Echo, and noticed something odd. But before he could ask there was a crackle followed by a zap from inside the closest.

"Echo," Celia's voice called out, "We need you back in here, Aria's tail is giving us some trouble." Echo wasted no time in walking into the closet and leaving Khan by himself.

He was sure that he wasn't seeing things when he saw two strange lumps on the top of the maid's head. Was Echo wearing hair clips on top of her head under her headscarf? Sure he didn't know much about hair styles but it seemed like a weird place to put them.

But before he could think on it further he heard a knock at the door, "Noted and to be thought upon, just not today." He sighed to himself as he began to walk towards the door.

"Khan, I order you not to answer that door!" Aria's voice shouted from the closet.

Before Khan could respond, Plasmane's voice spoke, "And as king I overrule that order."

Khan made his way to the door and opened it, stepping aside to let the king entire. Daedalus, who was standing behind him, entered as well. Khan had to admit it was strange seeing the Admiral without his helmet. Though he could see why he wore it constantly, instead of hair, his scalp was covered with a red metallic carapace the same color as his armor…assuming it was armor and not the rest of the carapace.

Khan shuddered slightly and pushed those thoughts aside, "With all due respect Your Highness," Khan said with a barely detectable amount of sarcasm, "Can't that be seen as an abuse of your power?"

"Watch you tone, boy." Daedalus muttered.

Plasmane only chuckled, "Given how little I abuse it I feel that I can be forgiven of this instance." He said, "Is Aria ready?"

Khan shrugged while closing the door, "Last I checked she's in the process, with your eyesight you'd probably know better than I would."

"Now _that_ would be an abuse of my power." The king said.

"I'm ready!" Aria shouted as she all but burst out of the closet with the three maids following behind her, stumbling slightly as she came to a stop, "Sorry Daddy, I was just having some trouble picking an outfit. Is it time to greet them?"

Plasmane didn't immediately reply, instead he looked down at the dress she was wearing, "I remember when your mother wore that dress," he said with a smile, however that smile faded, "But didn't she-"

"I know and yes," Aria said quickly, a little too quickly in Khan's opinion, "I just wanted to keep a piece of them with me, I could use their support."

Khan raised an eyebrow, _them_? What did she mean by-

"I understand, and don't worry," Plasmane said, cutting off Khan's thought process, "I'm sure they'll like you, you already know the Lord of Unova as well as the Lady of Alola and they absolutely adore you, the others shouldn't be that hard to win over. So how about we go meet them so you can stop with the pointless worrying?" he asked before turning around, "And bring your slaves, we're going to need them."

* * *

When Aria arrived at the council room, Adivino briefly explained the setup of the council table and their chairs. Behind each side were three ornate chairs, with the exception of Alola that only had two. One for the Lord(or Lady), the second chair was for the region's Esper, and the third chair was for the region's ruler to decide, usually for either their significant other or their personal guard. Though considering she was a special guest, Aria would sit in Adivino's chair for today's meeting while he levitated above them.

Plasmane, Daedalus and Aria were already sitting in their chairs and were facing the entrance to the council room, "I can feel our first visitors' arrival," Adivino said, and it was clear that he was fighting a smile.

Aria took a deep breath and straightened per posture, "So…who is it?" she asked.

Advino looked down at her, "Vincent Oswald, the Lord of Kanto…you might want to brace yourself." He said, only causing the princess to be confused.

"Why do I need to-"

"The Lord of Kanto…" a somewhat loud voice shouted from behind the door.

 _ **BANG!**_

Aria, along with Echo and Celia, who were unfortunately a lot closer to the sound, jumped when the doors burst open, "IS IN THE BUILDING, MY DUDES!" Shouted the Charizard gijinka that was standing in the doorway, behind him were two other gijinka, an Exeggutor and a Persian.

The Lord of Kanto looked to be about as old as Plasmane, though the scaly orange skin made it hard to tell. When looking at the gijinka at his side, it was clear that he was several inches shorter than the average gijinka of his species. His orange dragon-like wings, which sprouted out of his back, were spread proudly to make himself appear much bigger, but that wasn't necessary due to his stocky build being packed with muscle. He didn't have any hair between the two horns on his head, but he did have a beard on his block-like face. He was wearing rather casual clothes, but they were a business casual.

His blue eyes were filled with excitement as he eyed the king and grinned widely, almost showing off his sharp teeth. He folded his wings and walked forward with a confident stride, his long tail swinging behind him, the flame on the end burning brightly.

When he walked around the table, Plasmane and Daedalus stood up and walked to meet him. Aria was quick to follow, when she got closer the more she realized just how short he was, he was only a couple inches taller than she was.

"Vincent, always one to make an entrance," Daedalus said as he shook the lord's hand.

Vincent, craning his neck in order to look the Admiral in the eye, laughed at his comment, "Well some people never change, and no need to be so formal. Must I remind you to just call me Vinny?" he said, "how's the wife?" he asked.

Daedalus sighed, "Must I remind you that I'm not married?"

The Lord's grin only grew, "So you and your job got a divorce?" he only laughed at the Admiral's silence.

Plasmane chuckled, "It's good to see you Vinny," He said, "How are the kids, how's the family?"

Vinny only laughed, "You stealing my lines now?" he asked in a joking tone before continuing, "The kids are fine, Janine is looking after them, little Bobby just started his training."

Plasmane smiled, "What a coincidence, my little Sparkling, just started her training." He said as he turned towards Aria.

When the Charizard looked towards her, she did a small curtsy, "It's an honor to meet you Lord Vincent." She said.

The Charizard was silent for a while, "This is your daughter?" he asked, looking to Plasmane, who nodded and Vinny returned his gaze back to her, "She's…ADORABLE!" Aria jumped slightly at the outburst and she felt a scaly hand ruffle her hair, "Oh I could get eat you up!"

* * *

Faye, Celia, and Echo exchanged looks with each other, all of them thinking the same thing. Is this crazy gijinka seriously the Lord of Kanto?

' _Yes, yes he is.'_ The girls snapped to attention and looked to see Adivino giving them an amused look.

* * *

"And didn't you hear me tell Iron Brows over here?" Aria giggled and Daedalus' brows furrowed, "Call me Vinny, and to properly introduce them. This is my Esper, Harvey," he gestured to the Exeggutor, "and Kanto's treasurer, Bekah." He added pointing to the Persian.

Harvey was very thick in build and could easily be mistaken for a Kanto Palm from far away, he was by far the tallest one there, standing at least half a foot taller than Daedalus. He had bark for skin and his hair was nothing but deadlocks made from palm fronds. He didn't have any arms…well no physical arms. Instead of arms he had psychic energy that was vaguely shaped like arms. Though perhaps Harvey's most unsettling feature, at least to Aria, was the fact that Harvey had multiple faces. All of them completely identical, but each face seemed to have a different expression; though only the middle face smiled when she looked at him, so she assumed that one was the real face while the others were fake. He wasn't wearing any clothes, but due to the bark-like skin it was probably unnecessary for him to wear any.

Bekah stood with poise and was very sleek in appearance, she was even a couple an inch or two taller than Vinny, her Persian ears poked out of her cream blonde hair, which was tied into a bun. Her red feline eyes looked at her with indifference as her furry tail swished about. She looked like she couldn't care less about what was going on around her. She was dressed very neatly and wearing clothes that actually looked quick stiff, but very fine quality. She looked her over before giving a shrug and turning towards the slaves.

"You," she said, pointing a long sharp fingernail, which could've been a claw, at Echo, "Pour me some coffee, lukewarm."

Echo nodded and made her way to the refreshment table set up in away from the council table as the Kanto representatives took their seats. Before coming here, Plasmane had instructed them to serve refreshments to their guests when they called for it. Though personally Echo figured it was because their presence would make Aria more comfortable.

She put the coffee pot on the heater and began to warm up the brew.

* * *

After a little bit of Vinny making jokes, though honeslty he was laughing more at them than anyone else, sometimes he couldn't even finish a joke since he was laughing so hard, Adivino spoke again. "The Lady of Alola has arrived," Adivino said, causing Aria to perk up, "Though she probably needs no introduction…welcome, Lady Nymphadora Delphi as well are her husband and Esper, Remus and Omar." The doors glowed as someone psychically opened them.

Standing in the doorway was a Midnight Lycanroc gijinka, standing next to him was an Oranguru gijinka, who was pushing a wheelchair with a Primarina sitting on it.

Nymphadora sat on her wheelchair with pride and regality, her skin looked like white porcelain. Her long light blue hair, which cascaded down her back like a waterfall, was styled into a ponytail through the use of pearls and was held back by what looked like a tiara made of coral and starfish. Her ocean blue eyes were framed by long white lashes. Instead a lower body, she instead had a long blue fish tail with white fins. She wore a simple white dress that was covered in silver sparkles.

Remus stood next to the wheel chair, His arms were muscled, but they were extremely thin. In fact that was how his entire form was, muscled, but very thin. A large hand with very large and thick black claws resting on his wife's shoulder, though it was hard to tell whether or not he did that to keep himself from falling asleep. Though he was tall he was slouching a lot. His islander-beige skin was marked with multiple scars, not as many scars as Khan but still a surprising amount. His eyes were slightly unsettling since the pinkish-red irises and the pink tinted sclera looked like his eyes were extremely bloodshot. His hair was a wild mane of white hair that was tipped with back, from the look of it you'd think he had just barely rolled out of bed. His clothes attested more to that with his clothes, while still nice, were wrinkled and sloppily put on.

Omar wasn't close to being the tallest in the room, though he was definitely up there. His build was very heavy set, but from the way he was hunched over it was hard to tell if he was fat or stocky, his arms were much longer than his legs and certainly looked powerful however. His face and eyes were rather droopy, though it was probably more due to age than exhaustion. He had a wide mouth and didn't have any visible hair due to the white hood he was wearing, the hood covered his forehead and was decorated with a gold four-pointed star. He was wearing white robes and a purple cloak on his shoulders.

The Lord of Kanto grinned wildly at their arrival, "Dora, Remmy! How's the family?!"

Remus sighed, "Please don't call me that," his gravelly voice said in a very exhausted tone as a hand rubbed his forehead, "I'm very hung-over from the trip and really don't need your volume right now."

Nymphadora, or just Dora, gave the Charizard a small smile, "Teddy is fine, still having trouble controlling his own strength." Her voice was very musical, as if she was partially singing everything she said.

Vinny nodded, "Still breaking people's spines with those hugs?" he asked.

"More or less," Remus muttered.

"Aunt Dora!" no one knew when exactly Aria got up from her chair, but she rushed over and gave the Primarina hug.

Dora laughed and returned the hug, "It's wonderful to see you Aria," she said, "I trust you're still taking your music lessons?"

Aria broke the hug and nodded, "Yep, still not as musical as you though." It wasn't really any secret that the Lady of Alola was very musically talented, some even claimed that the only one more musical was the legendary of music.

"I'm sure you're still wonderful," the Primarina said.

"Hey Sparks," Remus said, "what about some attention for your favorite uncle?"

Aria laughed and went over to hug him while looking up at him, "Did you miss me?" she asked.

Remus was silent for a second, then he gave her a small smirk, "Nope." They both shared a laugh before breaking the hug and the Alola representatives began to take their seats, with Dora's wheelchair being pushed into the empty spot where a chair should've been. Soon the Lycanroc's nose caught whiff of something, he looked at saw Echo in the corner preparing the coffee pot, "Hey, Human," he called out, causing Echo too look over her shoulder, "Be sure to brew me a cup, Arceus knows I need it."

Echo nodded, "I-I-I-It's d-d-done a-any anyway," she said as she took the pot of the heat and putting onto a tray.

After picking up a coffee tray, Echo made her way over to the council table and setting the tray on the table adjacent to where Bekah was sitting, placed a mug in front of the Persian, and grabbed the coffee pot on the tray.

"Our next set of guests are approaching," Adivino spoke, "Our representatives from Johto."

The admiral sighed, "Great…" he muttered, causing Aria to look at the admiral in confusion.

Plasmane took notice of his daughter's confusion and began to explain, "Out of all the Lords and Ladies, the Lord of Johto came into power the most recently. Daedalus still has yet to warm up to him."

Vinny laughed, "Iron Brows…warm up to anyone? That'll happen the day my tail flame goes out." He said, causing some to laugh.

Echo did her best not to show that she was holding back a giggle, but she was failing. However a cold glare from the admiral quickly silenced her as she proceeded to pour coffee into Bekah's mug.

"Here they come," Adivino said, "Introducing; the Lord of Johto…Orpheus Zafiri." He finished as the doors were pushed open.

Echo froze as the name repeated in her head…no, it couldn't…she almost didn't want to look up, but she had to make sure. So she lifted her gaze towards the door, and her eyes widened.

The Lord of Johto was a Crobat gijinka that stood just as tall as Daedalus, however most of his height came from is long legs. He was broad shouldered in build had a strong looking chest, his skin was pale for the most part, but his the exposed skin on his arms was tinted purple. The underside of his arms had a thin wing membrane that was even present between each of his long somewhat bony fingers. Sprouting from his hips and folded at his sides were the Crobat's second set of wings, the first set being his arms. His grape purple hair was pulled into a high ponytail, but even then to ends of his hair reached far past his shoulders. Though not all his hair was contained in the ponytail, some of his hair farmed his face though most of it was brushed to the right side and tucked behind one of the Crobat ears that came out of the sides of his head. His irises were a blood red color and his sclera was tinted yellow. He wore formal clothes that looked to be more of a modern Unova-style than the more traditional Johto style.

Orpheus looked around the room with an almost tired gaze, "Looks like I'm not the first Lord to arrive." He said in a simple level-headed tone.

Vinny grinned, "Nope, sorry Orphy, beat ya again!" he said, causing the Crobat to sigh. Whether it was from the nickname or the unnecessary loudness of his voice wasn't clear.

Dora regarded the Crobat with a gentle smile, "How was your commute?" she asked.

"Could've been better, still not quite used to Sinnoh's temperatures." The Lord said.

Echo didn't want to believe it, but sure enough. Standing just a couple yards away…was her father.

* * *

 **-*X*x*X*-**

 **And there we go, another chapter finished and thus this story has reached the 15 chapter milestone! That is awesome! I had to split this chapter into multiple parts because I didn't want to give you guys another 10K chapter.**

 **I'm glad I got this chapter out sooner than the last one(almost two and a half months is better than three right?), I had hoped to get it out by September 6(the 2 Year Anniversary of the story's publish date), but it wasn't easy given that I've started college and didn't have nearly as much free time. So I'm still going to try to update every two weeks, but expect that I'm only going to be able to get out only one chapter each month.**

 **Regardless I want to thank everyone that has stuck around for this long and continued to read the story regardless of the time between chapters. So to honor this special occasion and to thank you guys on a more personal level, I've decided from now on I'm going to be a bit more interactive with you readers out there. How am I going to do that?...TO THE REVIEWS!**

* * *

 **-SmilingPrince-  
Thank you for leaving a review, and I'm glad you enjoyed it despite how long it was. And don't worry we will be learning more in the future about the Savior's story. I appreciate your review for not only leaving your guesses, but also giving an explanation for each guess(even thought you had no idea why on one or two of them). Congrats on one of your guesses being correct(even though the gender was wrong, I won't tell you which one it was though), and you also indirectly guessed that each Lord/Lady was a gijinka that originated from their respected region.**

 **-Imagination Heaven-  
Nice to see that one of our OC creators is still reading this story and letting me know their thoughts on it so far. I'm happy that I'm still throwing out updates as well. We've only scratched the surface when it comes to backstory, and hopefully the character development continues. Unfortunately there were no guesses on the Lords/Ladies, but that's alright.**

 **-NightmareKnight1-  
I applaud you on your guesses, you did get it right that Plasmane was the only Electric-type, but as for the typings you were half right and half wrong. Right that all of them have different primary typings(or at least that was my original plan because I may have messed up), but wrong that there was a Lord/Lady for each typing(had that been the case then there would've been 18 rather than 7). And it is good justification, each region does have a rather unique biome, but there are some similarities/groups you could pair the regions in. Sinnoh is the coldest; Hoenn and Alola are the warmest; Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh are rather mountainous; Unova and Kalos have both large cities and forests, but Unova has more cities and Kalos has more forests.**

* * *

 **Huh…only three reviews…probably would've been way more epic had there been more. But beggars can't be choosers.**

 **Be sure to leave a review telling me your thoughts on the chapter!**

 **QOTC(Question(s) of the Chapter):Continue to leave your guesses for what gijinka rule over Hoenn, Unova, and Kalos; and what are some theories you have about what's going to happen in the upcoming chapters?**

 **This is W. R. Winters signing off.**


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